Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (One World Essentials) Paperback – August 18, 2015

I heard about this book a number of times before I finally bought it. But it wasn’t the number of people who mentioned it that impressed me; it was the way they spoke of it, definitely in admiration, almost in awe, always with a tone that suggested they had been changed by the experience. What better recommendation could there be? I had to read it.The book follows Stevenson’s career first as a Harvard law student, and continuing after he received his degree, defending people (primarily in Alabama) who would otherwise have little hope of justice. Even with the efforts of Stevenson and others working to bring the ideal of equal justice closer to reality, there are aspects of a person’s life, some of which that person cannot control, that demonstrably affect his or her interaction with the massive machinery of justice in America. To summarize Stevenson’s argument: If you are poor, black, or mentally ill, your chances of receiving fair treatment in the justice system are much worse, especially if the victim is white.Of course, racial discrimination is still present in American society and still causes untold damage, but one thing that struck me while reading this book was the reminder of how recent the history of overt racial discrimination is in our country. By this I mean discrimination that doesn’t even hide itself, that isn’t even subtle, that is just right there in your face, never mind what the law might say. This history runs deep in America, and it still has the effect of denying many people the benefits of a nation that promises “liberty and justice for all.” In particular, as it relates to Stevenson’s book, African Americans who are caught up in the justice system have to carry a heavy burden of history, whether they are guilty or not.Addressing this burden is the aim of Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson and his colleagues don’t only defend African Americans who have no access to good legal representation. They have worked with white convicts as well, in addition to showing a special interest in the mentally ill and children convicted of serious crimes and thrown in together with the general prison population. But race and the history of race relations, including a history of state-sanctioned violence against African Americans, are the broad context for the work. It is a context that I think is difficult for white Americans, especially privileged white Americans, to fully understand.The frame story for Stevenson’s book, the story that encompasses all the others and provides a thread of continuity, is the saga of Walter McMillian. McMillian was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, based on flimsy and highly questionable evidence that was contradicted by other evidence and testimony available to police and prosecutors at the time of the original trial. Imprisoned on Alabama’s death row in 1987 before the trial even began, McMillian was eventually released in 1993 through the efforts of Stevenson and the EJI. But while McMillian’s case is described from beginning to end over the course of the book, Stevenson describes many other cases, some successful, some not, that he handled over the years.As infuriating as McMillian’s story is, though, the main point of the book is not that a man named Walter McMillian was unjustly imprisoned and prejudicially sentenced to die. Yes, his exoneration was a belated correction of a grievous error, and it saved an innocent man from death, but there are two larger messages embedded in these accounts of underfunded attempts to right past wrongs and, in the case of children, to ensure that they are not permanently damaged by being incarcerated with hardened criminals. First is that there is a real human being at the core of each of the stories Stevenson tells, and each of them deserves the fair treatment that any of us would expect, even demand, of the justice system. It is said so often that it can sound corny, but even one innocent person wrongfully convicted is too many, and if that person is put to death it is inexcusable both legally and morally (especially if the case was mishandled). Stevenson notes in a Postscript that when Anthony Ray Hinton was freed from prison in 2015, after being “locked down in solitary confinement at Holman Correctional Facility [in Alabama] for three decades in a 5x7 cell” for a crime he did not commit, he was the “152nd person in America exonerated and proved innocent after having been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death” (p. 315). One hundred and fifty-two people! How can we as a nation continue to argue that the death penalty is a useful part of a system of justice when over 150 innocent people have been condemned but had the good fortune to be proven innocent before the process could reach its culmination in their death? It is unknown how many innocent people have actually been executed, but if this many have been freed after being proven innocent, we should lose some sleep—lots of it—over that unanswerable question. It’s not good enough to say that because in the end they were exonerated, the cases of these 152 people prove that the system works. The point is that they never should have been convicted in the first place. Far too many of these people were convicted due to incompetent representation, withheld evidence, and prejudicial hearings, and were only saved because a lawyer somewhere had time to take their case (most likely for little or no pay, since those wrongfully convicted tend to be poor). For those not so lucky, the execution chamber awaits.The second message is that it does not weaken our justice system to remember that justice tempered with mercy is not a lesser form of justice. I have great faith in the American justice system, a faith that has been reinforced by living in countries that have different systems. Yes, it takes a little longer to look objectively at all the evidence. And it is difficult for all of us to look beyond our preconceptions and see the person in front of us rather than the category into which we would place them. But that is what our common humanity requires of us. And when fallible human beings, including the state’s representatives (judges, prosecutors, juries of one’s peers), are making decisions that could end a person’s life, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we do all we can not to allow mistakes to be made that cannot be undone once the sentence is carried out. False charges can be reversed. Unjust imprisonment can end. But nothing ends the gas chamber, the electric chair, or the lethal injection until the heart and lungs stop functioning. Stevenson isn’t suggesting that killers go free, or that criminals should not be punished. His larger message about mercy is simply this: We all need it from time to time, and we may even need more than we deserve. As he puts it, “we are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent” (p. 289). But it’s not just that we all have our often-hidden sources of pain. It’s that we most often need mercy when we deserve it least. “The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering” (p. 294).Some would ask, but what about people who don’t deserve mercy? What about people who, by their own actions, have put themselves beyond the bounds of human decency and thereby forfeited their right to continue living among us? One response would sound a bit like a Sunday School lesson, at least if you’re a Christian. By that doctrine, none of us deserves mercy. It’s always a gift, given because of the love and grace of the Giver, not because of the merits of the one to whom it is given. But it’s hard to apply such a lesson to the criminal justice system, because the great Lawgiver isn’t dispensing justice in that system. We are. And I mean that “we” literally. We are all implicated when any decision is made in the courts, since the foundation on which those courts rest is the idea that in determining guilt and innocence, and setting punishments in the case of the former, they act as our surrogates, expressing the unacceptability of certain acts but also accepting the possibility that sometimes, the person in the dock just might be innocent. At the conclusion of his story of Walter McMillian, Stevenson concludes with a lesson he said he learned from the experience. “Mercy is most empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven’t earned it, who haven’t even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion.” He’s not talking about Walter McMillian’s liberation from prison, though. He’s talking about Walter’s own forgiveness of “the people who had judged him unworthy of mercy” (p. 314).So what is required of us as citizens of a country with a legal system designed to protect us from the depredations of those who would harm us while also protecting us as much as possible from the perversions of justice that will be part of any imperfect system administered by imperfect people? We might start with this: To do justice and love mercy. In practice, the systems of state power cannot be expected to operate perfectly, but we can insist on certain things from those systems: a fair, impartial hearing; consideration of all the evidence, whether or not it supports one side’s vested interest in a particular outcome; refusal to apply the law any differently regardless of race or prior history. When those in a position to decide on our behalf decide that the ultimate penalty is to be applied, we can refuse to let the human thirst for vengeance make us callous to the tragedy that has unfolded for everyone, from the victims to the perpetrator. And when a wrongly-convicted person is freed, we can find within us a willingness to accept him or her as we would like to be accepted, as one whose failings are part of the enormous burden of our common, fallible humanity.

Incredible book. Very disturbing in parts, thought provoking, yet also uplifting. I had to stop reading a few times just to sit back and absorb what I'd just read and think about it. Same thing happened when I read Isabelle Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents. God Bless Bryan Stevenson for the work he has done and continues to do. I strongly recommend reading this book as well as the aforementioned book by Isabelle Wilkerson as well as her book The Warmth Of Other Suns.

Just Mercy: A Resilient Attorney, Winning People’s Lives BackIn 2014, Bryan Stevenson published an oscar worthy memoir touching on the lives of the unjustly convicted, sentencing death. As a new, eager, inexperienced attorney we are shown first hand the amount of courage and endurance it takes to stand by impoverished, hopeless people using the courthouse as a battle field to win their lives back. Stevenson gives us authentic detailed insights into the world of an attorney, with the purpose of sharing the key theme of mercy. “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” This memoir bounces back and forth between a multi dimensional, emotionally impactful case of Walter McMillian, and supplementary cases, involving deeper issues that are untouched amongst women, children and disabled.Bryan Stenson is an American lawyer who graduated from John F. Kennedy school of government, Harvard University. His early role as an attorney was not taken seriously, but through his determination to challenge the bias against the poor and the minorities in the Justice system, he finds himself against a rock and hard place. As competitive as his field is, very few were interested in taking the time to investigate further into what could be done for wrongly accused death row inmates. It seems as if money and credibility is the sole thrust for achieving support in the courthouse. These cases are some of, if not the most challenging to work on, because even if you have proofable evidence, the judge and justice system might still push back to save their reputation and the repercussions that would come from the media blowing such an event up.Walter McMillian is wrongly accused of sodomy. He is accused of raping another man along with being questioned for the murder of a woman named Ronda Morrison. When “said to be” witnesses came into the picture, they themselves contribute to the falsity of the crime. McMillian is sentenced to death due to the collection of trackless evidence. Stevenson caught wave of this case six years later as McMillian was weeks away from his execution. Stevenson, as a young attorney is not taken seriously and feels entirely inadequate to make any effective efforts on a death penalty case. He quickly realizes that if he doesn't at least try no one else will. This is just the beginning to a long, strenuous journey towards exoneration of McMillian. Being the focal point of the book, the reader is able to step foot into our justice system and empathize with the people being affected by our complex and erroneous justice system.As readers we are given glimpses of other individual cases representing women, children and disabled being victimized in the justice system. In the United States, the death penalty for children is above the age of fifteen. A fourteen year old boy, Charlie was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. He is a well rounded, and looked upon highly, although an uncomely event occurred when he shoots his mother's boyfriend, George. George is an alcoholic who one day comes home drunk and punches Charlie's mom in the face, leading her to bleed an obsessive amount. Charlie tries to help, but the bleeding continues. He strongly questions whether his mother is still alive, as she is lying unconscious on the floor. Before dialing 911 he grabbes a gun that is in a nearby drawer and shoots George. He then proceeds to dial. After Stevenson works with several cases like this he begins to represent juvenile cases whose violent acts have lead them behind bars. In the mid - 1980’s he established the equal justice institute in Montgomery, AL. From that point on there were changes in the way the criminal justice system dealt with youth. They realize that full development of an individual is at 18, and youth should not be penalized like an adult for their uncontrolled lack of development.Stevenson addresses how many cases involving mentally ill or disabled are handled in the same way as any other case. Stevenson goes on to say “Mass incarceration has been largely fueled by misguided drug policy and excessive sentencing, but the internment of hundreds of thousands of poor and mental ill people have been the driving force in achieving our record levels of imprisonment.” Inmates who have medical records or mental illnesses, are out of touch with reality, unable to identify right from wrong. Therefore, the jury has to exempt them from the execution. In another example young mothers are being accused for lack of evidence regarding their stillborn births.“Communities were on the lookout for bad moms who should be put in prison. About the same time as Marsha’s prosecution, Bridget Lee gave birth to a stillborn baby in Pickens County, Alabama. She was charged with capital murder and wrongfully imprisoned.” Stevenson goes on to describe the over crowded female regulated prisons and the manipulative promiscuous correctional officers amongst them.Stevenson is very declamatory with his writing style, with an idiomatic approach, which can appeal to all types of readers. His vast array of personal anecdotes and gut enthralling stories glue readers to the pages. His thoughts are crisp and innovative, allowing our eyes to see the justice system in a new light, and in many instances through the shoes of the accused. Stevenson gives us authentic detailed insights into the world of an attorney, with the purpose of sharing the key theme of mercy. By the end of this book you will have gained a new understanding of what mercy looks like and how we can take part in being more merciful to others.

I think everyone should read this book. Our history is not so long ago and change is good and I hope inevitably to be more humane

This beautiful, heartbreaking book sheds unapologetic light on the sanctioned crimes of our “justice” system, & the nuanced stories of the real men, women & children affected… Bryan Stevenson is a living saint & inspires all of us to do all that we can to carry on his mission of Just Mercy…

Such a well written book and so hard to put down! Really hit all my emotions! I highly recommend everyone read it!