It's the business of the courts to determine guilt and hand out punishment, but it's up to the rest of us to try to figure out what each sensational murder trial has to say about our culture and times--that is, about the rest of us. O.J. forced us to ponder the issue of domestic violence, with side trips into Hollywood decadence and the arrogance of male athletes. In the Susan Smith case, though, no one has come up with any grand themes other than mental illness and "evil"--both of which are ways of saying, "This is so unthinkable that we're not...
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