In Monster, the theme of victimization applies to Steve Harmon because of his plea of innocence in the story. Steve’s innocence isn’t apparent in the story, but the reader empathizes with him because he is the narrator. The theme is developed because Steve is at the mercy of others throughout the story; he doesn’t have much agency to make his own choices or control his own fate.

Steve becomes a victim of his circumstances because he is unable to make choices for himself—his agency is revoked in the oppressive criminal justice system. Myers sets up victimization in the story as a way to help the reader understand the emotional turmoil that Steve experiences throughout the trial. In showing how little control Steve has, we begin to understand the true dangers of corruption and racism in the criminal justice system.

Steve, for all we know, is innocent. He never reveals to us if he actually participated in the crime, and for the most part, he presents himself as innocent. However, one of the ways in which he is treated as a victim relates to his race. In the story his lawyer, O’Brien tells him,

Well, frankly, nothing is happening that speaks to your being innocent. Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You’re young, you’re black, and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?

O’Brien’s words help to encapsulate what being a victim of the system means. Steve, regardless of his guilt or innocence, is the victim of an oppressive system that pegs him as guilty because of his age and race. Steve has no control over how others perceive him or the prosecution’s willingness to charge him without a shred of evidence (really, there is almost no evidence that Steve participated in the crime). The reality is that Steve represents many of the victims of the racism and corruption present in the US criminal justice system, and Myers uses his status as a victim to explore the helplessness of someone caught in that system.