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Who Is The Intended Audience Of Just Mercy

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"Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson is a compelling and thought-provoking book that delves into the deep-rooted issues of racial inequality, injustice, and the flaws in the criminal justice system. Through a series of gripping narratives, Stevenson offers readers a poignant and eye-opening exploration of his personal experiences as a lawyer fighting for justice and fairness in the American legal system. Throughout Stevenson's journey as a lawyer, he experienced many trials and tribulations. He presented many arguments throughout "Just Mercy," such as racial bias, inequality, flaws, and injustices in capital punishment, the importance of mercy and redemption, the need for criminal justice reform, and humanizing the accused and incarcerated. …show more content…

The book's engaging narrative style and Stevenson's ability to blend personal experiences with legal analysis make it accessible to many readers. It has gained much acclaim and has been used as a resource in academic settings, legal education, and social and racial justice discussions. The intended audience in "Just Mercy" is broad on purpose. Stevenson wants readers to understand what he has learned throughout his journey in the criminal justice system and teach others how to approach justice …show more content…

He contends that capital punishment violates human rights, does not deter crime effectively, and is often used as a tool of revenge rather than justice. "Walter's case taught me that the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, do we deserve to kill" (Stevenson 313). This quote challenges readers to consider the moral weight of such an irreversible act and reflect on our social responsibility and complicity in administering the ultimate punishment.
Stevenson advocates for the power of mercy and compassion in the criminal justice system. He emphasizes that mercy does not mean ignoring or minimizing wrongdoing but recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, including those who have committed crimes. Stevenson calls for systemic change and reform within the criminal justice system. He highlights the need to address racial bias, poverty, inadequate legal representation, and the dehumanizing conditions of prisons. He advocates for policies that prioritize fairness, equality, and rehabilitation over punishment and

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Review Of Bryan Stevenson's Novel 'Just Mercy'

677 Words | 3 Pages

Will Schwartz Politics and Ethics 10.20.17 The Right To Kill Whether one agrees or disagrees with the idea that a government has the ability to punish their citizens with death, it is hard to argue that our judiciary system is capable of wielding such power. The flaws that unarguably plague the US justice system make it impossible for our government to fairly distribute and regulate death as a form of punishment. Within the novel Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson outlines his time fighting for the rights of accused individuals inside and outside death row; as well as fighting against those who abuse power granted to them by the justice system.

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Summary Of Just Mercy

1053 Words | 5 Pages

In the book Just Mercy: A story of Justice and Redemption Bryan Stevenson details his story of his experiences as a lawyer fighting for justice. This story encompasses over twenty-five years worth of impactful cases and how policy changes, due to major Supreme Court cases, were dealt with locally. The main issue that he was dealing with was the death penalty, and how it was systematically being misused. The main focus of the book to showcase this was on the case of Walter McMillian. After the murder of Ronda Morrison, a well known white woman in the area, there was a lot of pressure exerted by the community on the sheriff to make an arrest on the case.

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Rhetorical Devices In Just Mercy

1762 Words | 8 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis of Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson, a young and impressionable lawyer, whose work with Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC), opened Stevenson’s eyes to the defenselessness of death row inmates. Coupled with his own experience with bias and unfair treatment, Stevenson wrote a book based on the lives of those he helped- and attempted to help. Slightly shadowed by his own bias, Just Mercy was an inciting piece of literature of the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020.

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Bryan Stevenson's 'Just Mercy'

616 Words | 3 Pages

The book Just Mercy tells the long and sad story of what African American lawyer Bryan Stevenson had to go through in fight towards freeing Walter Mcmillian from his wrongly accused sentence. Walter Mcmillian was put in this position because of the murder of Ronda Morrison who was a white teenage girl that lived in Monroeville Alabama. There was no evidence on the crime scene and the only reason the police arrested Walter was because of a false accusation of man who wasn't even at the crime scene and the whole trial only lasted 2 days. As a result of his case, he ended up with a 30-year sentence in prison for murder but only ended up spending a total of 6 years due to his retrial that was led by his lawyer. Bryan Stevenson, his lawyer, is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization with the goal of fighting for people who have experienced any form of racial injustice or discrimination.

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Stevenson Quotes In Just Mercy

659 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Social Unjustness In Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

674 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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The Perils Of Injustice In Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy

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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Ethos In Just Mercy

474 Words | 2 Pages

The author Bryan Stevenson teaches his audience about criminal and racial discrimination in judicial systems using his own firsthand knowledge of devastating occurrences, and references in the nonfiction novel Just Mercy. The stories that Stevenson tells are all examples of how the legal system has been corrupted. Firstly, Stevenson uses ethos throughout his prose to provide an individual's perspective on America's racial injustices. Stevenson is a civil rights lawyer who shares personal experiences with injustice.. When Stevenson states, "I've represented abused and neglected children who were prosecuted as adults,"(9)

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Contradictions In Just Mercy

795 Words | 4 Pages

In an excerpt from his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Steveson - renowned civil rights lawyer - utilizes contradictions and characterization to demonstrate to uneducated readers the racism and failure of the justice system in order to motivate them to fight to dismantle the corrupt system. Throughout the description of Walter’s illegal placement on death row - death row lawyer Byran Steveson - details the contradictory actions of the sheriff and the other inmates to reveal to the American readers the failings of the justice system. After discussing Walter's despair created by his imprisonment, Bryan recounts the arrest of Walter. Bryan narrates Walter’s complete confusion during his arrest due to the, “racist taunts and threats from uniformed police

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Bryan Stevenson Just Mercy

779 Words | 4 Pages

“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

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Analysis Of Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

421 Words | 2 Pages

In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson retells powerful stories to highlight how minorities and juveniles within the criminal justice system are often unheard. Stevenson addresses Walter McMilliam’s case to prove that he was ignored by the police and others because he was an African American accused for interracial romance with a white women and murder. During the 1800’s, racial discrimination was extremely harsh onto black people which led their community to be targeted by the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system incarcerates African Americans but no other races which proves that they’re avoiding their safety and rights.

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Essay On Just Mercy

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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Just Mercy Thesis

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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Just Mercy Analysis

997 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Analysis Of Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption

902 Words | 4 Pages

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. By Bryan Stevenson. Spiegel & Grau, 2015. Pp. 368.

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