Bryan Stevenson’s a black man from a poor family in Delaware grew up to be a lawyer, whose legal career was focused on helping marginalized people wrongly convicted or punitively sentenced for non-homicidal crimes. This work of literature was mostly focused on his account of the injustices, blatant racism and discrimination that the Criminal Justice System inflicted on the poor marginalized people of Alabama and other southern states. Stevenson presented a variety of cases throughout the book, however his main focus was on the case of Walter McMillian, a Black man falsely convicted of murder and was sentenced to death in Alabama in the 1980’s. Stevenson was the founder of Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that provides legal representation …show more content…
McMillian was the main focus of this book, there were other cases presented showing the blatant racism and oppressive nature of the U.S during those times, especially towards poor young men and women of color. Through the work of EJI, Bryan was able to overturn death row conviction and reduce sentences for children and adolescents. As presented in the book it was not uncommon for a person with mental illness, a child of thirteen years old, or an innocent person to be sentenced to death or receive a life without parole sentence. In concert with the Juvenile Justice Department, Bryan was able to overturn some convictions, reduce sentence, but for some it was too late. One specific story outlined in this book was that of Antonio Nunez, a young man sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibly of parole for a kidnapping charge. When Antonio was thirteen, he and his brother was shot during a drive by, Antonio was critically injured and his brother died. Antonio was diagnosed with PTSD and moved out of South Central for his own safety. Antonio spent about six months in Nevada but was summoned to move back to California because he was on probation. When Antonio moved back, one night he went with two older men, who kidnapped a man and when pursued by the police, shots were fired towards the police. Although no one was injured during the incident, Antonio at the tender age of fourteen was sentenced to imprisonment without the possibly of parole. Bryan took on Antonio’s case arguing that children imprisoned to life without the possible of parole was cruel and unusual punishment. The California Court of Appeal ruled in Antonio’s case agreeing with Bryan that Antonio’s life imprisonment sentence was unconstitutional. Antonio, along with a number of other children’s cases and Bryan’s unwavering effort to help these children helped the Supreme Court pass the law that ruled the imprisonment of children without the possibly for Parole for non-homicidal crimes
We are introduced to the author of the book, Bryan Stevenson who is a member of the bar in two states Alabama and Georgia. He then receives a call from the local Judge Robert E. Lee about a case which involves a man called Walter McMillian’s. He knew that he could have gotten into great danger but he decides to do the right thing and confront the case. In the county of Monroe an eighteen-year-old woman is brutally murdered. The murder took everyone by surprise and even after a few days of investigating no one could find concrete evidence to point out who was the killer.
Throughout this captivating memoir, Stevenson shares a few of the many cases he was involved with and witnessed. His main goal in the begging was to create a nonprofit business where people could get lawyers for no charge. This business reached out mostly to the black community. When inmates were desperate
In chapter 7, Stevenson requests a direct appeal of Walter’s conviction. Stevenson appears before Judge Patterson who is a former Alabama governor who is well known for resisting de-segregation and will break the law to preserve this notion. Stevenson argues that Walter’s conviction was based on racial biases and illegal proceedings which in no way persuades Patterson. Patterson asks Stevenson where he’s from, which places him above Stevenson and makes it seem like he has no right talking to him. After the hearing, Stevenson tells Walter to stay hopeful and that they have plenty of options left.
Currently, the United States holds 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners (eji.org), which comes out to around 2.3 million inmates. 10,000 of these prisoners are children housed in adult facilities. 20,000 of these prisoners are wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit (huff post). 356,000 are seriously mentally ill (treatment advocacy). One million of these convicts are African Americans (NAACP).
This year at Elon University, all first-year students were given a summer reading. The author Bryan Stevenson, a gifted attorney, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative; fights to raise awareness about the injustices in the United States legal and social systems. Just Mercy, his book magnifies his early career, where he fought for people on death row. This book talks about the injustices that happened back in the 80’s and 90’s but, these same injustices by the police are still around today, but justified by law now.
The United States of America has been a long-standing symbol of liberty; the pledge of allegiance even states “with liberty, and justice for all.” However, digging not-so-deep into America’s government and justice system reveals anything but liberty or justice. Luckily, there are many people out there willing to push to reform the system and help those who have been treated unfairly. Bryan Stevenson is one of those people, and his anecdote about Walter McMillian intends to show the deep rooted problems in the justice system, as well as the fairly easy solutions to make strides towards repairing it and the people who have been wronged by it. He does this by using a somber tone about the life of McMillian, as well as using a hopeful one when
According to The University of Michigan's law education, African Americans are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes due to their race (law.umich.edu). Bryan Stevenson who is a human rights lawyer and author wrote the memoir by the name of Just Mercy. This piece focuses on the idea that the criminal justice system is discriminatory. In this memoir, he defends and fights for citizens to protect their rights as a person. Bryan Stevenson beautifully utilizes strong word choice, repetition, and emotional appeal to emphasize and persuade the readers that the efforts to fight institutional cruelty and raise the most vulnerable to a “higher ground” is what matters most.
Since 1977, the majority of death row inmates in the United States have been executed for killing white people. Yet, studies have shown that African Americans make up almost half of all homicides victims. For this reason, for years, capital punishment has been a source of a lot of controversy among human rights advocates and the american government. The book Dead Man Walking depicts the journey of a nun, Sister Helen Prejean, against the biased judicial system in the United States. Focusing in the death penalty issue, Prejean share her deepest thoughts while she experiences being the spiritual adviser of a “dead man walking”, a man convicted to death.
There are many victims of unfortunate circumstances in the world today, yet some of these results could have been easily avoided. In the novel, Just Mercy, the author Bryan Stevenson addresses many cases in which children under the age of 18 are incarcerated within the adult criminal justice system. By treating children as adults in the criminal justice system their innocence and undeveloped person, become criminalized. These children become dehumanized and only viewed as full-fledged criminals and as a result society offers no chance sympathy towards them. Stevenson argues that children tried as adults have become damaged and traumatized by this system of injustice.
In the eyes of Martin Luther King Jr., Justice within a society is achieved through the implementation of just laws. Furthermore, “just laws are regulations that have been created by man that follow the laws of God for man” (“Clergymen’s Letter”). Any law that does not correspond with the ideals of God and morality are considered to be unjust or a form of injustice. King identifies that injustice is clearly evident within the justice system. This injustice can truly be seen through the misconduct imposed toward the African American community.
The book Just Mercy written by Bryan Stevenson focuses and discusses justice and redemption. This book discusses the author’s life and how Stevenson grew up in a poor and racially segregated neighborhood in Delaware. The settlement he grew up in was very small and most families suffered from lack of water, indoor plumbing, and chickens and pigs surrounded their play space. Stevenson attended college in Pennsylvania and perused a degree in Public Policy. This book is about getting a better understanding of mass incarceration and cruel punishment in America.
Bryan Stevenson never knew what could happen and he was full of fear of the possibility of jail time or death. Herbert Richardson was a mentally ill person who didn’t get the help he needed, and due to that, he killed little girl and was executed. During that time, the mentally ill lost most of its funding, and because of that, those who needed help couldn’t get it. Richardson and other mentally ill people didn’t have much money and lived in poverty. Without justice, the world would become nothing but poverty, despair and fear, and the only ones who wouldn’t be affected are the
Bryan Stevenson knew the perils of injustice and inequality just as well as his clients on death row. He grew up in a poor, racially segregated area in Delaware and his great-grandparents had been slaves. While he was a law student, he had interned working for clients on death row. He realized that some people were treated unfairly in the judicial system and created the Equal Justice Institute where he began to take on prisoners sentenced to death as clients since many death row prisoners had no legal representation of any kind. In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson focuses on some of these true stories of injustice, mainly the case of his client, Walter McMillian.
In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, he writes to illustrate the injustices of the judicial system to its readers. To do so, Stevenson utilizes multiple writing styles that provide variety and helps keep the reader engaged in the topic. Such methods of his include the use of anecdotes from his personal experiences, statistics, and specific facts that apply to cases Stevenson had worked on as well as specific facts that pertain to particular states. The most prominent writing tool that Stevenson included in Just Mercy is the incorporation of anecdotes from cases that he himself had worked on as a nonprofit lawyer defending those who were unrightfully sentenced to die in prison.
Implications for this book include Santos’s desire to help fix the prison system and the mass incarceration issue the U.S is facing. Santos is also helping other that are being prosecuted by the failing system. Upon being released and piecing his life back together, Santos started his own foundation called the Michael G Santos foundation. Through this foundation, Santos is helping bring awareness to the socials issues that result from mass incarceration while also helping former prisoner transition and integrate successfully back into the work force. Through Santos’s hard work and commitment, Santos successfully helped Maine’s department of corrections enhance their prison system by the virtue of his own programs that he has developed post