No Matter How Loud I Shout

No Matter How Loud I Shout is a work of nonfiction written by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes and published in 1996. This work comprises the author’s ethnographical observations and participations in the Los Angeles juvenile justice system for the year of 1994. Humes asserts that the names of juveniles have been changed in accordance with state laws regarding confidentiality; however, everything else is true, and reported in the allegedly unbiased style of 1990s investigative journalism. Humes mostly leaves himself out of the narrative, although he worked with many of the characters as the writing teacher at Central Juvenile Hall. Occasionally, Humes makes it seem as though characters—especially adult characters—are speaking to an unknown individual who is, of course, Humes himself, much in the style of Truman Capote, in In Cold Blood. However, Humes inserts himself into the narrative in dealings with minors, often showing himself in conversation with them about their lives, hopes, and crimes.

The book itself is organized into four parts with a kind of narrative nonfiction preface at the beginning. The Preface serves to set the dismal scene of juvenile hall and the decaying juvenile-justice system, introducing the readers to several adolescent characters as well as the writing class in general.