"Little Brother" is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley

Walter Ellis Mosley 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 investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los...

 that appeared in his 2001 book of dystopia

Dystopia

A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...

n short stories Futureland

Futureland

Futureland is a series of nine loosely connected short pieces of science fiction by writer Walter Mosley. The novel is set in a postcyberpunk dystopian universe populated by humans living in a shellshocked, unfairly stratified society overseen by super-rich technocrats.-Stories:Whispers in the Dark...

: Nine Stories of an Imminent World. Mosley adapted the story into an episode of Masters of Science Fiction

Masters of Science Fiction

Masters of Science Fiction is an American television anthology series by the same creators as Masters of Horror. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007 at 10PM for a run of four episodes...

 directed by Darnell Martin

Darnell Martin

Darnell Martin is a television and film director, screenwriter, and film producer.-Early life:Martin was born in Bronx, New York. From the Bronx, she went on to Sarah Lawrence College and New York University Film School...

 and starring Clifton Collins Jr..

Plot summary

Frendon Ibrahim Blythe is a prisoner of the "newly instituted, and almost fully automated Sac'm Justice System in a futuristic version of Sacramento

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. 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

Justifiable homicide

The United States' concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law stands on the dividing line between an excuse, justification and an exculpation. It is different from other forms of homicide in that due to certain circumstances the homicide is justified as preventing greater harm to innocents...

. 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.