In “Just Mercy” Bryan Stevenson talks about the layers to each incarcerated individual. He talks about the repeated connections between issues such as mental illness and harsh home environments to juvenile offenders and mass incarceration. Stevenson goes into depth about the different internal and external issues that many incarcerated have. “In fact, there are more than three times the number of seriously mentally ill individuals in jail or prison than in hospitals; in some states that number is ten times. And prison is a terrible place for someone with mentally illness or a neurological disorder that prison guards are not trained to understand.”(164) Mentally illness is major in society and requires lots of care. It plays a big role in people's …show more content…
This is where the importance of Bryan Stevenson's organization in events has importance. After giving details in the background of cases he is able to talk about cases of not criminals but people with their own stories. Bryan Stevenson talks about the way the mental illness of Mr. Jenkins was never looked into by his previous lawyers. Stevenson says “His lawyers did no investigation of Mr.Jenkin’s history prior to trial, and he was quickly convicted of murder and sentenced to death.” (171) The lack of interest on these topics by the court further proves Stevenson's argument. The organization also works for bigger and more generic cases such as what is done in cases of juvenile offenders being punished as adults. These kids aren’t seen as criminals but as someone who has only known a harsh life. Stevensons fights for these kids he mentions his standpoint in these cases “We argued that these harsh punishments were created for adult criminals and were never intended for children. I also told the court that to say to any child of thirteen that he is fit only to die in prison is cruel.” (224) Overall Bryan Stevenson presents prisoners as people before what they’re known as in society,
The guard stopped pushing him.” (10) Even though this may seem like nothing, it means a lot because some humans think that death row inmates are all hardened criminals. Before Stevenson had heard him sing, he was wondering to himself why this man was on death row. He did not fit the “death row criteria”. Not every criminal is a hardened criminal as we see in this novel, most inmates are wrongly accused of some others
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
Throughout this captivating memoir, Stevenson shares a few of the many cases he was involved with and witnessed. His main goal in the begging was to create a nonprofit business where people could get lawyers for no charge. This business reached out mostly to the black community. When inmates were desperate
In the book Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson is determined to help those who are treated unfairly in our justice system. He meets those who are treated unfairly because of race, gender, income or mental disabilities. Stevenson uses his law degree to win or receive new trials for the underprivileged. Stevenson believes that race, income, or other factors should not effect a court trial. The same goes for other aspects of life such as a college applications, financial aid, or scholarships.
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’s writing structure in his book is professional by the way he would introduces different court cases he had previously worked on into each progressing personal thought and analysis over the topic of innocents on death row. From beginning to end the dictionary was my best friend when struggling through the author 's complex vocabulary. The selection of his vocabulary such as; menacing, discretionary, and unprecedented made it difficult to understand the author when he was expressing his thoughts or describing a scenario. His writing style is intelligent because even though his writing tends to be scholarly, there are ways to still create pictures with your head. His descriptive scenario gave me a tangible image of how it might’ve looked like and me feel in his position during this intense scene when a white male police officer pointed a gun to his face because he looked suspicious in the middle of the night sitting in his car.
This is the moment of exigence for Stevenson and his commitment to becoming a lawyer to help those in need while facing capital punishment. His tone shifts from his feelings in a narrative to his realization of the flaws in the American justice system. He describes the United States as having a "radical transformation that would turn us into an unprecedentedly harsh and punitive nation and result in mass imprisonment that has no historical parallel" (15). This description of the United States also shows his reasons for becoming a lawyer.
This has made me realize that everyone in prisons are not suppose to be there for their reasons they were convicted of. Everyone should read the novel Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson because it gives you a new point on what happens behind the bars. While reading it, it will take you on an emotional rollercoaster with people facing death because of being put in jail for the wrong reasons. As well as changing peoples point of view, this novel will also make you second guess the views of prison we were taught as children.
Even though the prisoners have different stories and backgrounds they all have perseverance. The perseverance was gained by themselves and Bryan encouraged them. Bryan Stevenson illustrates perseverance in the criminal justice
“Lawers don’t have to sign that book– If you want to come into my prison, you’ll sign the book” (Stevenson, 169). This quote conveys the racism and disprivilege Bryan got for being African American. This made it hard for Stevenson, it even discouraged him slightly.
Bryan Stevenson mainly focuses on the case of Walter McMillian in “Just Mercy.” A man wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of Ronda
Just Mercy Final Reflection In the United States, child incarceration has been a longstanding problem. According to the Sentencing Project of 2021, there are nearly 50,000 juveniles being held in detention centers, prisons, or other correctional facilities. This issue was brought to light from Just Mercy by Bryan Stevensons, which chronicles the work of Stevenson as a lawyer advocating for those who have been wrongly convicted, including children. Stevenson’s book is mainly centered around Walter McMillian, a black man wrongfully accused of murder and sentenced to death.
Bryan Stevenson never knew what could happen and he was full of fear of the possibility of jail time or death. Herbert Richardson was a mentally ill person who didn’t get the help he needed, and due to that, he killed little girl and was executed. During that time, the mentally ill lost most of its funding, and because of that, those who needed help couldn’t get it. Richardson and other mentally ill people didn’t have much money and lived in poverty. Without justice, the world would become nothing but poverty, despair and fear, and the only ones who wouldn’t be affected are the
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.
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.