"Little Brother" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private in ...

that appeared in his 2001 book of

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

n short stories '' Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World''. Mosley adapted the story into an episode of ''

Masters of Science Fiction ''Masters of Science Fiction'' is a television anthology series by some of the producers of ''Masters of Horror''. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007, at 10PM for a run of four episodes. It was originally scheduled to run in six parts, bu ...

'', directed by

Darnell Martin Darnell Martin (born January 7, 1964) is an American television and film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Early life and education Martin was born in Bronx, New York, the daughter of Marilyn, a dancer of Irish-American descent, and an ...

and starring

Clifton Collins Jr. Clifton Craig Collins Jr. (born June 16, 1970) is an American film and television actor. He is a Primetime Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Satellite Award, and four-time ALMA Award nominee, and a Screen Actors Guild Award winner. Prior t ...

Plot summary

Frendon Ibrahim Blythe is a prisoner of the "newly instituted, and almost fully automated" Sac'm Justice SystemMosley, Walter. (2002). '' Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World''. New York: Warner Books. in a futuristic version of

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He is being tried for the murder of Officer Terrance Bernard and the assault of his partner, Omar LaTey. Blythe's brain is connected to the computer "judge" through a plastic tube attached to the base of his skull, which allows the System free access to the contents and physiology of his brain. The tube is part of Restraint Mobile Device 27, or RMD 27, an automated "guard." In eliminating human juries and judges, the Sac'm System has essentially created a stark justice system wherein it is impossible to claim

justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden to produce exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countries, ...

. Blythe must find a way to outwit his virtual judge in order to prove his innocence and avoid the death penalty, the automatic result of a murder charge in the Sac'm System.

References

2001 short stories Short stories by Walter Mosley {{2000s-sf-story-stub