Analysis Of Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

Racism has redesigned itself to adapt to our society today– it’s known as mass incarceration. Bryan Stevenson, a Southern lawyer for underprivileged people who were harshly sentenced or wrongfully condemned, takes us on his personal, extensive journey through the cruel criminal justice system. Over the course of Just Mercy, he gives historical context, statistics and personal anecdotes to shed light on the huge issue of mass incarceration and its brutal effects. Stevenson’s overall argument is that the criminal justice system’s use of harsh punishment perpetuates violence instead of discouraging it. Instead, we should use mercy and empathy to rehabilitate these individuals because it is “strong enough to break the cycle” of suffering and cruelty.

Although we learn about dozens of shocking cases he has taken on, the main story takes place in Alabama in the late 80’s. At this time, Stevenson was four years out of law school and working as a public defender for unrepresented death row inmates. He was assigned a case involving a black man named Walter McMillan who had been sitting on death row for 6 years for a murder he didn’t commit. Walter’s story began after he was caught having an affair with a white woman, which was essentially forbidden in the South at that time. Soon after that scandal, a beloved white woman of the community was murdered. Looking for someone to blame for this crime, the racist police falsely accused and convicted Walter. Stevenson’s decision to defend Walter McMillan and other wrongly and/or harshly convicted individuals forever changed his life by inspiring him to help create an organization to solve prison-related problems and also write this book. The rollercoaster that is Walter McMillan’s case sheds light on the extreme racial discrimination and corruption in the police force and teaches Stevenson many valuable lessons about forgiveness, resilience, and

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. This quote was very eye-opening to me and stuck with me throughout the