The Criminal Justice System In Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson
The book, “Just Mercy”, written by Bryan Stevenson, tells the story of true justice in helping incarcerated people fight for freedom. He develops convincing arguments showing the hidden flaws and inequality in the American criminal justice system. Bryan Stevenson makes his arguments through three appeals, ethos, logos and pathos, using personal experiences, his viewpoint on juvenile sentencing and justice, and his priorities. In chapter 2, Stand, Stevenson shares his personal experiences with the Atlanta Police Department to provide exposure to racial inequality. On a drive home from Gadsden, Alabama, Stevenson gets pulled over by an Atlanta SWAT car: “The other officer was now leaning inside my car and going through my papers.
Race, gender, and power contribute to the problems of mass incarceration. In the book ‘Just Mercy’ written by Bryan Stevenson, race, power and gender, play a big role in the mass incarceration of African Americans in Alabama. Bryan Stevenson explains how in Alabama, whites and officers often picked on African Americans and caused harm to them to convenience themselves in cases where there were murders and court cases that were mistrials or the public did not like the verdict. “...about sixty miles south of the city. Donald was walking home from the store hours after a mistrial was declared in the prosecution of a black man shooting a white police officer.
In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson tells a first person account of his years defending the people who were wrongly convicted or punished by the US justice system. At the heart of the novel is the story of Walter McMillian, a man wrongly convicted of murder and sent to death row. Throughout the novel, Stevenson presents examples of individuals who were wrongfully punished due to racism and discrimination. He shows the readers how our criminal justice system unfairly impacts members of the Black community. He also highlights the destruction and devastation this can cause.
Bryan Stevenson uses the art of rhetoric in Just Mercy to allow readers to understand how America’s history of racial tension has influenced mass incarceration through the criminal justice system. Stevenson asserts throughout the book how the criminal justice system is corrupted through vast instances such as Joe Sullivan and Walter McMillian. The criminal justice scene immorally targets those who suffer from mental illnesses, people of color, and the poor. Through Stevenson’s rhetoric, readers come to understand the parallel worlds between himself and those convicted.
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.
The United States is no ray of sunshine, specifically for dark-skinned individuals. Over the years, race and gender have played an essential role in the United States, limiting access to basic needs to those who do not fit their white and patriarchal expectations. As everyone grows more knowledgeable about what in reality is happening in our society, our capital becomes angrier and more defensive, making it impossible, especially for women and dark-skinned U.S. citizens, to live in a place of peace and freedom. The book "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson is one of those books that opened my perspective on the court system in the U.S. Just Mercy is the story of a black lawyer and his journey to become one of the most respected individuals who fought for a unique court system for the population viewed as a minority among white supremacists.
The (In)justice System “‘I feel like they done put me on death row, too. What do we tell these children about how to stay out of harm’s way when you can be at your own house, minding your own business, surrounded by your entire family, and they still put some murder on you that you ain’t do and send you to death row?’”(Stevenson 93). In the memoir Just Mercy, we follow the life story of Bryan Stevenson who we see start out as a young Harvard law student and as the novel progresses transforms into a lawyer helping those on death row who do not have any help. He has many experiences where he sees people change, statistics that prove injustice, and where he experiences injustice. All of these are examples of rhetorical strategies, which are
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.
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).
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.
Mercy is empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven’t earned it, who haven’t even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion.” Stevenson gives the readers multiple reasons why the system is so corrupt in such plain terms so that they can go out and do something about it. Don’t give up. Overcome the fear, ignorance, and bigotry.
1/5/23 Racial injustice has been a prominent issue in the American criminal justice system for centuries prior to Bryan Stevenson's entry in the criminal justice world. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, goes in depth on specific unjust criminal charges based on racial assumptions. Bryan Stevenson does work on ending these suffrages and freeing clients who have been unfairly accused on death row. Throughout the book, Stevenson addresses systemic racism through examples of jury selection, several case studies of unfairly incarcerated individuals, and police brutality which his advocacy for inmates overcomes by creating racial justice within the criminal justice system.
Yet, according to government statistics, African Americans and whites have similar rates of illicit drug use and dealing” (Bryan Stevenson and Michelle Alexander, 2010). Therefore, the war on drugs was a systematic effort to target and arrest African Americans on the pretense of suspicion of drugs, which accounted for a higher incarceration rate among communities of color creating a racial divide. With this intention, the criminal justice system is a racial based institution that marginalizes and controls the fate of African Americans. In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson represented Walter McMillian who was wrongfully convicted of murder and put on death row without legal and fair representation states, “We’ve institutionalized policies that reduce people to their worst acts and permanently label them criminal, murderer, rapist, thief, drug dealer, sex offender, felon- identities they cannot change regardless of the circumstances of their crimes or any improvements they might make in their lives” (Stevenson, 2015). With this in mind, Walter McMillian’s case is one of the many racial segregated cases that was denied effective representation and prosecutorial misconduct because he was black, which has subjected many African Americans to unfair treatment by the criminal system leaving
“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.
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