If anything, Steve seems a victim of Harlem’s violent environment and the story demonstrates the manner in which that endemic violence drags down well-meaning young men like himself, and then turns them into actually violent people through the horrible environment in prison. In spite of his potential guilt, Steve’s youth and minimal involvement (he was passively roped into it by King) suggest that a felony murder charge is legally sanctioned but entirely unjust. Steve’s probable guilt is reinforced by the fact that the state prosecutor labels him a “ monster” in her opening remarks, and this becomes the way that Steve sees himself throughout the novel, dehumanizing himself. Although Steve’s actual guilt or innocence is never explicitly revealed, his inner narrative and framing of events suggests that he did participate in the robbery in a minimal way, simply walking into the drugstore and back out of it to check for cops, and leaving before King and Bobo Evans went in to commit the actual robbery. He describes his court case-in which his co-defendant is a man he knows from his neighborhood, James King-through personal notes and a screenplay he writes in his journal as the events happen. Contrasting with the other three people implicated in the robbery, Steve has no criminal history and is a decent and sensitive kid. Steve is a 16-year-old black kid from Harlem charged with felony murder for his involvement in a botched robbery that ended in Mr. Steve Harmon is the narrator and protagonist of the story.