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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.
Paola Moreno Ms. Stack ELA 10 Eth Stu May 14, 2024 Just Mercy Final Essay The book Just Mercy is an autobiography written by Bryan Stevenson. Just Mercy is about a young lawyer who helps people in need or wrongly convicted. After reading this book, there were some problems in the judicial system that stood out to me.
Walter McMillan was guilty of one thing and one thing only: having an affair with a white woman. At the time, this was seen as very scandalous, the Civil Rights Movement had ended but the deeply ingrained racism in the South had not. Because of this, Walter McMillan, known by many as Johnny D., was shunned and mistreated to the point that when a murder he didn’t commit was pinned on him no one thought twice about whether or not he could have done it. The Justice Department handled the case poorly by not fact checking witness testimonies, illegally moving the prisoner to death row without a conviction, intimidating a witness before a trial to convince him to lie, and so much more. One day Walter McMillan and several other prisoners get a visit from an upstart lawyer named Bryan Stevenson, a man who had just started a federally funded program known as the Equal Justice Initiative to help men like Walter.
Even after the McMillian case was denied countless times, Stevenson and Walter never gave up hope, and it paid off. Walter McMillian was released after six years on death row. Stevenson said, “But Walter’s case also taught me something else: there is light within this darkness” (28). Stevenson saw hope as light, as it shined brightly even when Walter’s life was on the line. Stevenson also learned through his time that you don't just hope for yourself, you hope for others, too.
Mary Kwentus Mr. Singleterry ENGL 2250 22 May 2023 Social Unjustness In Bryan Stevenson’s novel Just Mercy Stevenson gives his first-person accounts of the social justice system in America and marginalized Americans who are unfairly punished. The novel retells the cases of Stevenson. Stevenson fights to end the justice system’s unjustness and racial discrimination. The novel follows Stevenson as he and his company the Equal Justice Initiative work to help prisoners on death row and give them the legal representation they deserve.
This is so impactful because the reader has seen throughout the book all that has happened to Walter because of this lie and lack of compassion for him. For it to come out that the police were pressuring Myers finally shows the injustice done to Walter but Myers has compassion for Walter, ultimately leading Myers to end up telling the truth. Stevenson's example in this passage shows readers the impact of compassion on humans around them. Injustice is not only seen through Walter in just mercy, and the same goes for our society. That is why Stevenson shows the injustice forced upon children in the criminal justice system.
Opening up a firm is no easy task and this shows how dedicated Stevenson is to his work. It is also a nonprofit organization which shows how much he cares about the people on death row. In conclusion, Stevenson shows credibility in Just Mercy with the use of
In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Bryan faces many challenges and helps innocent people prove their innocence. His business becomes stronger than the law. Just Mercy shows the suffering and injustice of past cases. Bryan Stevenson faced many difficulties during his work.
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 the first paragraph, Stevenson says that “... [Walter] had been threatened and terrorized, wrongly accused and condemned, but he never gave up….Walter had overcome what fear, ignorance, and bigotry had done to him.” In the second paragraph: “Walter’s case taught me that fear and anger are a threat to justice…” In the third paragraph: “The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?” And in the last paragraph: “Walter had taught me that mercy is just when it is rooted in hopefulness and freely given.
Maybe that was evidence enough,” (Stevenson 31). This part of the book captures how something that has nothing to do with the case, the color of one of the important characters (i.e. Walter McMillian) skin, impacted whether or not he was proven guilty of a murder that he had nothing at all to do with. If racism wasn’t such an extreme issue in the book, Walter would have never been accused of doing something so vile. The blame was pinned to Walter because he was a black man,
“There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy (Stevenson 109) .” This bold statement is one of many as Bryan Stevenson sets the tone for his renowned award winning novel Just Mercy. As a young lawyer from Georgia, built the foundation for his company, SPDC (Southern Prisoners Defense Committee) to help convicts that are on death row or in need a second chance. Bryan Stevenson, a young lawyer from Georgia who fought for justice on the behalf of inmates on death row, showed tremendous intelligence in becoming a successful lawyer, demanding for not backing down in moments of refusal, and was an overall advocate
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.
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 Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson concludes “the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice,” and by this he means that when there is no justice, most people will live in poverty, despair, and fear. Despair is the complete loss of all hope, and each of these characters felt that feeling. Bryan Stevenson was stopped and searched by the police, and he was full of fear because one officer had pulled a gun on him. Fear, Police rely on fear to break the law and do as they wish, because they know a majority of people are scared to go against the police. In chapter 3, Walter McMillian was in jail awaiting his trial and eventual execution, this alone drove him into a pit of despair.
