Questions: Is it moral to profit from a crime and a trial? Are these book contracts a form of making money from the deaths of two people?

Many publishers refused to publish If I Did It, and networks refused to air interviews with Mr. Simpson about the book. Would you have declined the book for publication or to air an interview that would have brought in ad revenues? Why or why not?

Prompt: Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson was charged with murder in June 1994 in the double homicide of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Because Mr. Simpson was charged with a capital crime, he was incarcerated upon being charged. California's version of the Son of Sam law prevents profits from crimes only after there has been a conviction. Mr. Simpson authored a book, I Want to Tell You, while he was incarcerated and his nine-month trial in progress. Mr. Simpson also signed autographs and sports memorabilia and sold them from the Los Angeles County jail. Mr. Simpson's cottage industry from jail netted him in excess of $3 million. Could a law that passes constitutional muster be implemented to prevent crime-related profits like those Mr. Simpson was able to obtain?

Mr. Simpson was acquitted of the murders. Following his acquittal, prosecutors in the case, Christopher Darden, Marcia Clark, and Hank Goldberg, signed multi-million-dollar book contracts to write about their experiences during the trial. Alan Dershowitz, the late Johnnie Cochran, and Robert Shapiro, members of the Simpson defense team, signed six-figure contracts to write books about the trial from the defense perspective. Daniel Petrocelli, the lawyer who represented the Goldmans in their civil suit against Mr. Simpson, also wrote a book, Triumph of Justice: The Final Judgment on the Simpson Saga.

In 2007, a book by Mr. Simpson, If I Did It, was released by the Goldman family. The Goldmans had acquired the rights to the Simpson book because of their $33 million judgment against Mr. Simpson following the civil case for wrongful death. They were assigned the rights to the book's royalties as a means of collecting the judgment. Upon its release, the book soared to number 1 on Amazon.com even as Mr. Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas for his alleged role in a robbery of sports paraphernalia.