Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And Just Mercy

Bernice Villarino

Mrs. Ying

Eng H 9 Period 1

1 May 2023

Just Mercy & TKAM essay

Prompt #3: To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy both suggest that the legal system can be an agent of both justice and injustice. Compare and contrast the ways in which the legal system is portrayed in each book. What factors contribute to its successes and failures? What reforms, if any, do these books suggest are necessary to promote greater justice and equality under the law?

How efficient is today’s legal system at serving justice fairly? In the past, several things had to change to get the justice system society has today. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, a successful lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper

When Ralph Meyers admits that he was pressured into falsely testifying against McMillian by state officials, readers can question how trustworthy the system is considering Meyers’ testimony was a blatant lie. To add on, Meyers’ confession means that Walter McMillian was completely falsely convicted and unfairly put on death row simply because he was black and the town was starting to get antsy without a solid suspect in the murder of Ronda Morrison. Blindly agreeing with the verdict, the public was convinced that Walter was the murderer and the government had finally gotten the burden of finding a suspect off of their back even if McMillian was not guilty of anything. This was a true story and it shows how the legal system can cover up a case if they wanted to and without any reforms such as properly assessing and educating those in the justice system before hiring, these problems will continue to happen, and more people might be wrongly convicted. Similarly, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson

In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson meets with a variety of clients from children who were put on an adult trial and given the death sentence to adults who are mentally or physically challenged but dismissed because they are ‘already old enough’. In these meetings, readers can see how the disabled are treated in the prisons that further build upon the idea of mismanagement and disregard for prisoners as the guards try to dislodge Joe Sullivan’s wheelchair “with a violent pull that finally dislodged it” and without looking back at the state of Joe “the guards gave each other high fives, the inmate trusties walked away silently, and Joe sat motionlessly in his chair in the middle of the room looking down at his feet” (Stevenson 262). Joe Sullivan is introduced as a mentally challenged 13-year-old who was frequently abused at home, and wrongfully convicted of rape. Readers can view this scene as both disturbing and saddening as the guards completely disregard the fact that Joe had started crying in both pain and embarrassment and instead chose to celebrate their ‘success’ in dislodging the chair. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the most prominent ‘mockingbird’ aside from Tom was Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley who was introduced as the town's enigma at first. While there was no detailed trial or