The media can be aggravating, they are constantly in someone’s business. But sometimes the media can have a positive impact on situations. In the cases of Greg Kelley and Walter McMillian the media actually had a positive impact on the results. The cases were very similar, botched investigations, little to no evidence, falsely accused, and a rally of support. When these cases were looking bleak the media stepped in and boosted the cases to the public.
In the book Just Mercy: A story of Justice and Redemption Bryan Stevenson details his story of his experiences as a lawyer fighting for justice. This story encompasses over twenty-five years worth of impactful cases and how policy changes, due to major Supreme Court cases, were dealt with locally. The main issue that he was dealing with was the death penalty, and how it was systematically being misused. The main focus of the book to showcase this was on the case of Walter McMillian. After the murder of Ronda Morrison, a well known white woman in the area, there was a lot of pressure exerted by the community on the sheriff to make an arrest on the case.
Zachary Shemtob, a teacher of criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University, and David Lat, a former federal prosecutor, in their essay “Executions Should Be Televised” (2011), discourse the issue whether the criminal execution process should be videotaped and televised or to be privately disclosed among the press and selected witnesses, in which both Shemtob and Lat affirm to broadcasting. Shemtob and Lat construct their claim by defining the transparency that arises when the public is notified of executions through the media and analysing concerns that may arise from misguided illustrations of broadcasting executions, such as relating them to a pet euthanization or obtaining a sympathetic feeling towards the executed felon who
If there is one thing that the humans are historically bad at doing it's admitting their own faults. Hubris blinds us from seeing the bigger issues That, I believe, is the sole reason why the world that we live in is unjust. It's full of people who are misusing their power positions like Kim Davis, a disgruntled county clerk. There are also people prosecuted for crimes they never committed just because they are in poverty as Bryan Stevenson teaches us. People are also judged because of their skin color and not by their personalities like Ahmed Mohamed, a freshman apprehended for building clock .
How do things around you change who you are? Looking at different texts made it more apparent how it affects day-to-day life. The author’s of “Just Mercy, The Truman Show, The Midnight Zone, Given to Rust, My True South” uses elements to develop a theme of how places, environments and others shape the individual. One way that places, environments and others can shape the individual is in our justice system or having death looking over your shoulder. One place or environment that shapes the individual is being put on death row in 1983, Bryan is trying his best to help the wrongfully convicted inmates in an Alabama prison be free again.
Mercy, a concept describing compassion or forgiveness towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. As a humanitarian, future world leader and citizen of America I’d like to think that the world I live in is a forgiving place where everyone gets a second chance. Unfortunately, in the court of law, this is not always true. By reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson I found that it is very hard to acquire justice and redemption to many civilians who have been incarcerated. This book explores various stories of injustices in the judicial system by incorporating people from different racial groups, socioeconomic background, mental disabilities and more.
The book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson brings awareness to the unfairness in the justice system and in our federal prisons. Incarceration of citizens suffering with mental health issues is a problem in our U.S prisons and the justice system but there are solutions to this problem like offering different programs to the mentally ill. In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson gives a glimpse of the cruel, unjust sentencing practices problems we have with our justice system. Our prisons are flooded with inmates who suffer from a mental illness and with correction officers who are not properly trained to handle inmates who suffer from this hidden illness.
Brock Turner’s case has caused a social outlash since 2015. The details of Brock Turner’s case
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.
In society, interaction is mainly conveyed through the use of media. In an ideal world, broadcasting is done with no biases and consumers are able to digest the authentic picture, although, in reality, the media implements its own beliefs and values. The Bill Cosby case is a controversial incident that has been reoccurring for the past few decades. Cosby is known in America as the ideal family man, he was idolized and a role model for many. However, Cosby is allegedly accused of drugging and raping dozens of women, and the victims are filing lawsuits against him.
Across California and beyond, normal standards of fairness and reasoned skepticism were routinely thrown to the wind, with news gatherers scrambling to outdo one another in finding purported examples of monstrous behavior” (Haberman 7). With this pack mentality taking effect after the McMartin case it led to mass hysteria taking set in the minds of Americans. This is much like what was seen during the Salem Witch Trials simply because how easily this pack mentality took effect on people’s minds. Parents feared for their children even when they were not involved in the case simply because the parent's who were involved were fearful. This led to a mass child care scare which in the end led to many child care workers losing their customers and even their jobs.
Racism and prejudice have been a black stain on the history of our country since its creation. However, since the emancipation of the slaves in the U.S., measures have been taken to get rid of the racism that remains. The movie Just Mercy is an excellent example of how racism in the 1980s persisted in the legal system in the Deep South. When watching Just Mercy many elements could be evaluated, these are the ones that will be reviewed today—the story's impact, the effectiveness of the message, the authenticity of the story, and how it addresses the wider political/social issues outside of the film. Just Mercy presented the racism and flaws in the criminal justice system appropriately to the audience, without showing the complete horrors that
For instance, Simpson’s case was greatly influenced by the media coverage, which compromised the capabilities of the criminal justice
The victims can never be understood by the non-victimized. This resonates with modern America in a specific way. While Americans have become interconnected by way of the internet and social media, our representatives and government leaders remain distant, and on the backdrop of hyperconnectivity, this only broadens the distance. The polarization of the American
The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is" (Harper 203). This