The courtroom as forum

Homicide trial scenes in An American Tragedy, Native Son, In Cold Blood, and The Executioner's Song support the assertion that certain crimes represent the era in which they occur. The social issues addressed in the forum of the courtroom become more complex as the century progresses, moving from the destructiveness of the American Dream - and the social and economic stratifications that dream implies - to issues of race, religion, sexuality, psychiatry, and media involvement in the legal process.