SOURCE: "Imagining Mayhem: Fictional Violence vs. 'True Crime'," in North American Review, December, 1991, pp. 57-64.

[In the following essay, Miles discusses the popularity of true-crime literature, what its popularity suggests about American culture, and the moral issues raised by the genre.]

During the 1980s, America got tough on crime. As a result, our prison population has doubled, and the U.S. now ranks first in the world—ahead of South Africa and the Soviet Union—in the proportion of its populace behind bars. Does this mean that ours is the most criminally violent society in the world? Or are we simply the most punitive society in the world?

Criminal violence in America, flourishing despite massive efforts against it, defies easy comprehension. As anyone knows who has watched a jury being empaneled for a murder case, it is difficult, these days, to find twelve Americans whose lives have not...