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Bryan Stevenson’s novel Just Mercy tells of his times as a death row attorney for inmates that were unjustly and inhumanely represented in the American court system. A #1 New York Times Bestseller, the book itself tells a story of a man named Walter McMillan who was sentenced to death row in an Alabama state prison. Walter landed in prison after a woman named Ronda Morrison from his hometown Monroe Alabama was found dead at her workplace Monroe cleaners on November 1st, 1983. This telling by Stevenson highlights the injustices and systemized racism that exists in our southern court systems, and without just attorneys like Stevenson to represent these disadvantaged men and women these inhumane practices will only continue.
This year at Elon University, all first-year students were given a summer reading. The author Bryan Stevenson, a gifted attorney, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative; fights to raise awareness about the injustices in the United States legal and social systems. Just Mercy, his book magnifies his early career, where he fought for people on death row. This book talks about the injustices that happened back in the 80’s and 90’s but, these same injustices by the police are still around today, but justified by law now.
Author and lawyer Bryan Stevenson chronicles the unjust and inhumane stories of multiple prisoners throughout the South. He tries to appeal and save each individual from unethical sentences that were handed down upon them. Stevenson uses this book as way to shine a very bright light on the unfair practices and sentences that consistently happen throughout American court rooms to the mentally ill and the vulnerable. He is able to provide a prologue for each prisoner and case he encounters that provides crucial information that can potentially alter whether each client would end up dying in prison, or have the potential to see life outside of cement walls and bars. Stevenson is able to show readers the unfair practices of not only prosecutors
This essay provides the idea of justice for the charged and freedom for the innocent who are falsely convicted. Stevenson argues that the criminal and juvenile justice systems need reform
Not only does Berstein call for an overall reform of this nation’s juvenile prisons, she goes as far as saying the practice of locking up youth is in need of a “more profound than incremental and partial reform” (13). The fact that Bernstein outlines the numerous failed strategies and goals of this practice with her compelling use of studies and statistics is enough to promote an audience to reject the practice of locking up youth. The statistic she shares that “four out of five juvenile parolees [will be] back behind bars within three years of release” as well as the studies she conducted on numerous instances when a guards abuse of power lead to the death of a child work to further prove her point: being that “institution[s] as intrinsically destructive as the juvenile prison” have no place in a modern society (13, 83). Bernstein refutes this false sense effectiveness further by sharing her own ideas on what she believes works as a much more humane solution to rehabilitating
In the book Just Mercy, by Bryon Stevenson, he shares the story of his upbringing as a lawyer and company Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Through his career, he was able to understand the full extent of mercy and its ability to bring out people’s humanity. Additionally, Stevenson argues how people who act upon prejudiced beliefs are just as broken as those who have been condemned to life in prison without parole and on death row, because they have all been defeated by a sense of hopelessness and animosity within their own lives. In my critique, I describe my new found understanding of the cruelty behind the death penalty. Moreso, the trauma and brutality it brings to all the players involved, especially to those who are placed on death row.
In conclusion "Just Mercy" serves as a powerful portrayal of racial bias in the criminal justice system during the late 20th century. Bryan Stevensons' narratives shed light on systemic injustices faced by African Americans and other marginalized communities. Supported by media sources such as The New York Times' report on racial disparities in criminal justice and scholarly articles on sentencing disparities based on race "Just Mercy" effectively demonstrates how pervasive this issue was. "Just Mercy," continues to show that it provokes contemplation expertly leads readers on an introspective journey through the shadows of our criminal justice system where we are confronted with the heartbreaking consequences resulting from racial bias. Through riveting narratives
The book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson is very moving. It highlights the many different injustices that are going on within the American criminal justice system, specifically regarding race and socioeconomic status. Stevenson provides personal experiences with representing individuals on death row, including Walter McMillian, which left me with an eye-opener of what is happening within the justice system and how truly devastating some of the stories were. Throughout the book, Stevenson leaves the reader to question their own biases and assumptions about crime through his different experiences within the field, including myself.
Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy exposes several ethical failures that permeate the criminal justice system, reflecting a profound disregard for human dignity and justice. Firstly, the book highlights the systemic racism that unjustly targets minorities (Stevenson, 2014). The disproportionate incarceration of African Americans, despite constituting a small percentage of the population, is a testament to the biased application of laws and policies. The pervasive racial profiling, leading to discriminatory arrests and excessive bail amounts, further perpetuates this injustice. Secondly, Stevenson highlights indigent defendants' lack of adequate legal representation (Stevenson, 2014).
Prisons are meant to detain those that are deemed unjust by society, based on legislation enacted by all in order to maintain order. Due to this, the average person regards prisoners as dangerous people unfit to live freely amongst others. This stereotyping of prisoners makes frequent appearances in Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, a title that recounts his journey as a lawyer over the past few decades. A Harvard Law School graduate, he finds himself intrigued with defending those wrongly facing the strictest punishments allowed: prison for life or even the death sentence. Initially at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, Stevenson eventually manages to move to Montgomery where he establishes the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), in an attempt
Just Mercy is a powerful and moving book written by Bryan Stevenson, who is a lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. The book is based on his experiences as a young lawyer in Alabama fighting for justice on behalf of death row convicts and wrongfully convicted individuals. The author's writing style is engaging, and he does a fantastic job of educating the reader about the world of criminal law and the terrible reality that it frequently involves. He describes various examples in which he worked relentlessly to prove his client’s innocence or lower their sentences, exposing weaknesses in the American justice system.
The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” Here, Stevenson explains his views on what he defines as justice after his long history of experience working in the criminal justice system. He says that justice in a society is measured by how it treats its least valuable members. However, this view is evidently not shared by the criminal justice system. Stevenson proves in Just Mercy that the criminal justice system favors privileged groups while mass-incarcerating non-privileged groups.
Working closely with people placed on death row, incarcerated children and many others; Bryan Stevenson is able to provide some clarity as to how unjust the criminal justice system truly is. Mr. Stevenson graduated from Harvard University Law School and is currently a Professor of Law at the New York University of Law. He is the founder and Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative, with the help of his team he has been able to successfully “relief or release over 115 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row.” As well as establishing “life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger are constitutional” through various cases handled by the United States Supreme Court. The cruelest of acts are those committed under the false
In this class, I am now beginning to read Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Foreman Jr., a book similar in ideas to Just Mercy. All of this has led me to Summer Challenge’s Criminal Justice course, where I hope to get even deeper insight into our justice system and its
The juvenile justice system has made numerous of ethical issues when managing juvenile offenders. The issue with the juvenile justice system is the laws and rules that govern it. It has led to years of controversial debate over the ethical dilemmas of the juvenile corrections system, and how they work with youth offenders. The number of minors entering the juvenile justice system is increasing every month. The reasons why the juvenile justice system faces ethical dilemmas is important and needs to be addressed: (1) a vast proportion of juveniles are being tried and prosecuted as adults; (2) the psychological maturation of the juvenile to fully comprehend the justice system; and (3) the factors that contribute to minorities being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system are more likely than White offenders.
