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Abuse Of Power And Greed In America's Justice System

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Mackenzie Wolfe Mr. Boline AP Language Arts 29 March 2023 America’s Justice System is Broken High influence issues such as abuse of power and greed can change the course of hundreds of lives and impact the way the world treats people. As seen in Just Mercy, written by Brian Stevenson, these issues can be the difference between life, death and a long life of lasting mental health issues. The Justice System of the United States is broken because of the abuse of power and greed that hold high influence in America’s Justice System. Abuse of power is significantly influential in the Justice System. It corrupts officials, changes outcomes of “fair trials”, convicts innocent people and even sometimes is the cause of a wrongful death …show more content…

Like we saw in Just Mercy, the abuse of power of higher officials like police officers, judges and other court officers take advantage of those they swore to protect and have dramatic influence on the outcome of a defendant's rights. The threatening and bribing of Myers procured a false testimony which displays the type of abuse of power that holds high control over the Justice System, “He told us about being pressured by the sheriff and the ABI and threatened with the death penalty if he didn’t testify against McMillian” (pg. 136). These officers and the Alabama Bureau of Investigations persuaded Myer’s too…. Sadly, the abuse of power is very common in the cases that go through our Justice System on a daily basis. Many people in power use it to their advantage to persuade, bribe or take control to influence a trial or the system. If someone in power can so easily deny another’s right to a fair trial, then the …show more content…

It is one of the most influential forces in our world. There are many forms of greed and they impact many different parts of our lives. With greed, we can be easily influenced into participating in illegal activities, making morally wrong decisions and working with those who abuse their power. In Walter McMillian’s story from Just Mercy, police officers had threatened and bribed a convicted felon (Ralph Myers) to lie on the witness stand and blame Walter for a young girl’s death. Ralph, out of survival and of greed, agreed to lie on the witness stand, indirectly sentencing an innocent man to death. Ralph’s greed had pushed him to put his needs above the life of another and took Walter's right to a fair trial. Years later, Myers recanted his original statement, “l done put a damn man on death row by lying in damn court” (pg. 139). With the statement, Mr. McMillian was released, but not without depression and Post Incarceration Syndrome (PIS). Another example of greed in the Justice System in Just Mercy, is

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The book Just Mercy tells the long and sad story of what African American lawyer Bryan Stevenson had to go through in fight towards freeing Walter Mcmillian from his wrongly accused sentence. Walter Mcmillian was put in this position because of the murder of Ronda Morrison who was a white teenage girl that lived in Monroeville Alabama. There was no evidence on the crime scene and the only reason the police arrested Walter was because of a false accusation of man who wasn't even at the crime scene and the whole trial only lasted 2 days. As a result of his case, he ended up with a 30-year sentence in prison for murder but only ended up spending a total of 6 years due to his retrial that was led by his lawyer. Bryan Stevenson, his lawyer, is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization with the goal of fighting for people who have experienced any form of racial injustice or discrimination.

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In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson tells a first person account of his years defending the people who were wrongly convicted or punished by the US justice system. At the heart of the novel is the story of Walter McMillian, a man wrongly convicted of murder and sent to death row. Throughout the novel, Stevenson presents examples of individuals who were wrongfully punished due to racism and discrimination. He shows the readers how our criminal justice system unfairly impacts members of the Black community. He also highlights the destruction and devastation this can cause.

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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.

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