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Just Mercy Essay Questions

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Just Mercy (2019) is a powerful and thought-provoking movie directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The movie is set in Monroeville, Alabama in the late 80s/early 90s, and is based on the memoir of Bryan Stevenson, an African American lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, “a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted or unfairly sentenced” as stated by the WealthChoice article Meet the Equal Justice Initiative. The movie follows Stevenson's journey as he seeks to defend Walter McMillian, a wrongfully convicted death row inmate in the state of Alabama. Another key figure in this movie is Eva Ansley, a white woman who co-founded the Equal Justice Initiative with Bryan Stevenson. …show more content…

One of the most important people in the movie, though, is Ralph Myers, a white man who was coerced into testifying against McMillian in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. Myers is a drug addict who is easily manipulated by the police, and though his testimony is ultimately proven to be false, the life of McMillian quite literally rests on his weak shoulders. As Stevenson fights to clear his client’s name, he faces many obstacles, including biased judges, hostile prosecutors, and a culture of racism and bias within the police department. Despite these challenges, Stevenson remains committed to seeking justice for McMillian and other wrongly convicted prisoners. Through their struggles and triumphs, the movie shines a light on the ongoing struggle for justice and the importance of fighting for social justice and …show more content…

One example of symbolic interactionism in the movie is the relationship between the main character, Bryan Stevenson, and his clients. Throughout the film, Stevenson forms deep connections with his clients, listening to their stories and understanding the symbolic meanings behind their experiences. Through this interaction, Stevenson provides meaningful legal representation, grounded in a deep understanding of his clients' lives and experiences. Another example of symbolic interactionism in the movie is how language is used to construct meaning. The characters in the movie use language in powerful ways, creating symbolic meanings that help them to understand and interpret their experiences. For example, when Stevenson visits McMillian in prison, he encourages him to "keep fighting," using language to create a symbolic meaning of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. Additionally, the movie portrays the importance of personal relationships in creating meaningful change. Stevenson's relationship with Eva Ansley, his colleague and friend, is a powerful example of how personal connections can be used to create social change. With each other’s partnership, they build a network of support for their clients and work

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Just mercy is a book of human experiences, and one of those experiences is injustice. Everyone has experienced injustice in their life in one way or another. However, the experiences that most people have had with injustice were something small. But that is not the case for Walter McMillan in just mercy.

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741 Words | 3 Pages

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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596 Words | 3 Pages

Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, is a profoundly emotional and enlightening story of the injustices faced by those in poverty and of color due to the criminal justice system. The book follows the story of Stevenson’s experience representing the poor and marginalized as he fights in court to free the wrongly convicted and improve the system. The characters in the book range from the clients he represents in court to the judges, lawyers, and other court personnel that Stevenson deals with. Through Stevenson’s story, the themes of redemption, justice, and mercy become evident, and this paper will analyze how these themes are depicted and explore how they can apply to the reader. Redemption is the idea that people can grow, learn, and be forgiven for their mistakes.

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442 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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350 Words | 2 Pages

Just Mercy is a book that opens the eyes of Americans who have no idea what is going on in minority communities. After reading “Just Mercy” I am horrified at how our justice system has been treating minorities in this country for decades. False imprisonment and false capital punishment is one of the worst things that I believe can happen to a person, and this book shows how often it occurs to people of color. Our Judicial system is supposed to be blind to race, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, etc. However, as shown in the book, it is one of the most racist things in this country.

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1250 Words | 5 Pages

Grow in South Baton Rouge wasn’t easy for Justice at all. While living in South Baton Rouge he attended McKinley Senior High School, which was a nightmare for him. He was bullied and it made him feel like he was nothing. He had already lost his dad to a car accident, and that was something he couldn’t get it out his head. With all this going on he knew he couldn’t let his mom and sister down.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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581 Words | 3 Pages

The book delves into themes like stereotypes and inequality, offering a gripping narrative from beginning to end. Speaking of stereotypes, do you know how people often label others based on factors like race or gender? Well in "Dear Martin" Justyce confronts these stereotypes head on. Despite being intelligent, kindhearted and striving to do what is right, he is unfairly branded as another " Black man. " It is disheartening to witness his face judgment because of his skin color.

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902 Words | 4 Pages

This non-profit organization was trying to help as many prisoners that were wrongly accused or sentenced to death row when they should not have been due to age or mental status. The workers were not getting paid for their services they worked out of passion to help those wrongly convicted or sentenced. The largest advocacy group in Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption was the Equal Justice Initiative or EJI. EJI was founded by Bryan Stevenson himself after finding a passion for helping those wrongly condemned to death row. It started by just helping fight the cases of those people who were either innocent on death row or who should not have received such a harsh punishment due to mental illness or cruel and unusual punishment for the crime they committed.

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915 Words | 4 Pages

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

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1474 Words | 6 Pages

1). In conclusion, Shirley Jackson uses characterization, symbolism and themes to make the story acceptable to all readers. The characterization helps Shirley to recognize each part of the story such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the extras, etc. Also she uses symbolism to give a realistic point of view to the story with objects, places and some distinctive characters.

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748 Words | 3 Pages

The film is also notable for its exploration of the American justice system. The film exposes the flaws in the system, such as the influence of bias and prejudice, but also highlights the importance of the jury system and the power of individual conscience. The film's ultimate message is one of hope, that justice can prevail even in the face of overwhelming

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1224 Words | 5 Pages

“What I Already Know/What I Wanted to Know” While reading Just Mercy I became very curious about what life was like, on death row for the inmates and how did how the inmates were treated change over time. Just Mercy and other stories I hear or read about death row, made me curious on how they live on death row. I already knew that some inmates can be on death row for a decent amount of time almost their whole lifes. The process of getting their execution date is why their time on death row can be so long. I didn’t know much more about what their lives were like, besides that it seemed they had less privileges than other inmates and had harsher living conditions.

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461 Words | 2 Pages

Mercy and PCHAS exists as ministries of the Lord Jesus. Every day we live out the words of James 1:27, which states, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” We are called to hold, help and heal the hurting. Many years ago, Mercy and PCAHS accepted the call to the mission field of healing. Since that time, our organizations have been steadfast in our commitment to serve and save “whosoever”.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

Growing up in a mainly white middle class community my entire life, I rarely got to see society from a wider perspective. Throughout my public school career, I had a couple of classmates from diverse background but there really was not many or any real variety. Despite that though, the lives of people in different classes, races, and time periods had always fascinated me. On top of that, I loved mysteries and crime shows, so once I got to high school I took various world culture classes as well as Forensics and Contemporary Legal Issues. I had thought that my young unbreakable curiosity would be enough to find a way to discover everything there was to know about the topics that peeked my interest, though I was proved incorrect.

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