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The Criminal Justice System In Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

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There are arguably many themes in the book Just Mercy. The author and/or the protagonist, Bryan Stevenson, shows perseverance through his work-packed life, possibly the book is telling people to push through for a good outcome. Other parts of the book focus on racial issues of the south, maybe the theme is about the indifferences for minorities. Some chapters elaborate on the lives of wrongfully imprisoned people, or people under cruel and unusual punishment. The book's theme could be the mistreatment of prisoners. All of these possible themes have one thing in common, they connect to the issues in the Criminal Justice System. Stevenson takes short pauses in between many chapters, to point out the wrongful doings in the justice system. He …show more content…

The meaning of the word condemned is to be sentenced to a particular punishment, especially death. Within the first sentence of the book he conveys a negative tone about the justice system. Stevenson claiming he wasn’t prepared lets one infer that it left a powerful effect on him, likely a negative one. Stevenson also manages to include To Kill a Mockingbird’s setting in comparison to Monroeville, Alabama. This town is the home of one of Stevenson’s clients, wrongfully convicted Walter McMillian. To Kill a Mockingbird is a famous book about a wrongfully convicted African American from a small town in Alabama. Stevenson foreshadowed the book with this reference. To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy share a similar theme about the Criminal Justice …show more content…

Many cases have shown people with higher social status to have an upper hand in cases. While the poor and minorities get the lower hand. Being poor means the victim/suspect might not be able to afford a strong defense for themselves, or they’ll receive a public defender. While public defenders are needed and appreciated, being able to afford a lawyer from a million dollar law firm will surely make a difference. Sometimes having an ordinary public defender means the defendant/plaintiff may not be taken as seriously. When it comes to racial differences, similar to financial disadvantages, the “bigger” person often takes the lead. The bigger person in this case would be whoever is opposite of the minority. Which in many of Stevenson’s cases would be white people. Giving the minorities a disadvantage, because there are typically less

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