Bryan Stevenson documents his experiences as a social justice attorney in Just Mercy, A Story of Justice and Redemption. Stevenson focuses on the story of Walter McMilliam, a young black man from rural Alabama who is wrongly convicted of murder and spends years on death row. But just as importantly, Stevenson puts into context the injustice in our legal and incarceration systems, especially for the poor and people of color.
“The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated and the condemned.” Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
One of the few African-American’s with his own business in Monroe County, Walter is well-liked by both whites and blacks and generally goes about building his logging business to support his wife and children. He is known as a ladies man and anger begins to build in the white community when he has an affair with a white woman. After the sheriff and law enforcement spend months trying unsuccessfully to solve the murder of a local young white woman, suddenly Walter is arrested for the crime. Although he has countless family and friends who vouch for his presence at a family fish fry during the time of the murder, the sheriff has found two eyewitnesses that put Walter at the crime scene. With negligent legal representation, an unfair jury, poor investigative work by the local police, and corruption in the district attorney’s office, Walter is sentenced to death. Walter’s family finds Bryan Stevenson who spends years piecing together the truth and fighting for a new trial and a reversal of Walter’s conviction.
“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?”
In between chapters of Walter’s story, Stevenson weaves in other examples of injustice in the criminal justice system. Using statistics, analysis and client’s stories, Stevenson advocates for criminal justice reforms that currently favor the white and wealthy. Leaving the poor, people of color and mentally ill without adequate legal representation, subject to inhumane and unjust punishments and, all to frequently, sentence to life-in-prison or death for a crime they did not commit. He makes convincing arguments for banning the death penalty, for legal representation for all defendants, for banning housing children under 18 in adult prisons or jails, and not trying children in adult courts.
“The power of just mercy is that is belongs to the undeserving.”
Stevenson’s gift in Just Mercy is not just sharing his experiences, knowledge and advocacy but his ability to humanize these stories: to make the reader consider their own morals and values. He beautifully captures the moral of ‘love your neighbor as yourself’. He advocates for a humane way to punish people for crimes and argues that we need to strive much harder to give just mercy to the poor, the underrepresented, and the mentally ill.
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
I read this book in 2017 and found it incredibly powerful and thought provoking. As a white, suburban woman, this is probably the deepest I have read and thought about these issues (I am not proud to say). The quotes that are interspersed through the review have stuck with me over the years. I am grateful for Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative and all the attorneys nationwide who are advocating for the least fortunate, the innocent and just mercy for all.
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