Have
you ever read a book that has changed the way you view the world? Just Mercy was that book for me. Bryan Stevenson has spent his life helping
those that have been wrongly condemned.
Did
you know that “over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States
have a diagnosed mental illness, a rate nearly five times greater than that of
the general adult population?” Did you
know that 25 percent of inmates are veterans?
Did you know that there were children sentenced to life in prison for non-lethal
crimes at the age of 13? Did you know
that 167 people that were on death row have been exonerated since 1973 in the
United States? I did not know any of
this before reading Just Mercy. It was an eye-opening book that taught me a lot
about the prison system and execution in the United States. Even more than the facts and figures, Bryan
Stevenson was able to use the personal stories of those that he has worked with
through the years to give a face to the people behind bars. These stories still haunt me a week after finishing
this book.
The
main story of Just Mercy is how Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative,
a legal practice, to help defend the wrongly convicted, the poor, and the
vulnerable that have become trapped in the criminal justice system. Walter McMillian was one of Stevenson’s first
cases. He was condemned for a murder he did
not commit, and Stevenson has to work against the system to try to get just for
Walter, his family, and his community. I
will admit I was shocked that you could be so innocent with an alibi and no
prior convictions and that false testimony could put you on death row. The fact that it was so hard to get Walter back
off death row was very disturbing and made me question again why we have the death
penalty in America.
I
admire Bryan Stevenson. Instead of
taking a high paying corporate job, he went after his passion to help
people. The way he tells his story is
down to earth and full of compassion. It
made me really sad reading this how happy people were to see Bryan when he
visited them in jail. He was the one
person that really listened to so many forgotten people. People want justice and mercy and he was able
to bring it to a lot of people.
As a
side note, I really liked the To Kill a Mockingbird references in this
book. It was highly ironic that a community
that was so proud of being where To Kill a Mockingbird took place railroaded a
black man, Walter McMillian, with false testimony to a death sentence.
I also
watched the movie Just Mercy on Amazon with my family. It was an excellent movie. It focused on the Walter McMillian case and
not the rest of the stories that Stevenson told in this book. The book covered a lot of issues including
mothers that are put in jail for “killing” babies that were born dead, children
that are victimized as they are tried as adults and put in the general population. The book also talked about how being tough on
crime often results in sentences that are too harsh for the crimes, especially for
the poor. The rich who can afford good lawyers
are able to plea deal and get out of sentences that the poor could spend a lifetime
in prison over. The system is not fair
for all. Even after a citizen pays for their crime, when they get out of jail,
there are so many restrictions they are not able to be a fully functioning
citizen of the United States again. That
is a crime in itself. I also watched the
documentary “13th” on Netflix and Bryan Stevenson is one of the
people interviewed about the criminal justice system in America. It was also eye opening and I highly
recommend it.
Favorite
Quotes:
I
had too many favorite quotes in this book so I will try to narrow it down.
“This
book is about getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America. It is about how easily we condemn people in
this county and the injustice we create when we allow fear, anger, and distance
to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us.”
“The
true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused,
the incarcerated, and the condemned. We
are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the
decency of a community, a state, and a nation.
Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair,
until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much
as we victimize others. The closer we
get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe
it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and –
perhaps – we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”
“For
them, the darkness brought a familiar unease, an uncertainty weighted with the
wary, lingering fear as old as the settlement of the country itself; discomfort
too longstanding and constant to merit discussion but too burdensome to ever
forget.”
“The
bad things that happen to use don’t define us.”
“Whenever
things got really bad, and they were questioning the value of their lives, I
would remind them that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
“Constantly
being suspected, accused, doubted, distrusted, presumed guilty, and even feared
is a burden borne by a people of color that can’t be understood or confronted without
a deeper conversation about our history of racial injustice.”
“Walter
made me understand why we have to reform a system of criminal justice that
continues to treat people better if they are rich and guilty than if they are
poor and innocent.”
Overall,
Just Mercy is a book that every American should read. Stevenson is able to give a voice to those
that desperately need one that are trapped within our legal system. It also gives a great look at why there is so
much anger in our country right now with how different groups (black, mentally
disabled, poor, etc.) are treated different within our justice system. I read this book quickly and I cannot stop thinking
about it. It is a great book for a book
club or a school to discuss social justice issues.
Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon.com
