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Mental Health Issues In The Justice System In Just Mercy By Robert Louis Stevenson

797 Words4 Pages

“My work with the poor and incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.” (Stevenson 18) The wrongful convictions of people with mental health issues in the justice system are widely discussed in the book ‘Just Mercy’. In the chapter ‘Mitigation’, Stevenson’s focal point is on the mistreatment and injustices that mentally ill people endure while in the system. This chapter in particular opened my eyes to the struggle these people face, ways we can help to prevent it, and how I have started seeing it in my everyday life. Wrongful convictions happen all the time but, the majority of them are due to the inability of the accused to defend themselves properly and the prior struggles they face. George Daniel is a prime example of this injustice, he had been in a car crash and experienced hallucinations as a result. He was convicted of murder after an altercation with a police officer and wasn’t given a proper trial. George was not appointed to the appropriate counseling and therefore they did not actively fight for him or achieve justice. Once Stevenson took over this case he instantly …show more content…

For most of my life, I thought that I wanted to become a doctor like my mom so I could help people and I had never thought about much else. A few years ago I realized that being a doctor was not for me and it crushed me because I felt like I was not going to be able to achieve my goal of helping people and improving the world around me. I remember watching a show with my family, How to Get Away With Murder, and realizing that I could still help people even if it wasn’t in the way I was expecting. Reading Just Mercy has just reinforced my hope that one day I will be able to aid in ridding the justice system of wrongfulness and be able to improve the lives of those who might not be as fortunate as others and myself

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