This is such a powerful book, one that is both heartbreaking and inspiring, one that makes you feel both hope and despair. I had an inkling that our justice system in the United States is broken and disproportionately punishes poor people and people of color, but reading this really opened my eyes. I truly had no idea just how broken it is.
Bryan Stevenson is such an inspiring and altruistic human being. He is a lawyer who has dedicated his life to the fight for justice, serving as an advocate for those who have nobody to fight for them. The work that he has done and continues to do is nothing short of amazing. He and his non-profit organization, the Equal Justice Initiative, have helped so many people who found themselves, as a result of tragic circumstances, on death row or serving life sentences: people wrongly accused and convicted, people of color suffering racial injustices at every turn of the judicial process, poor people, people who had to stand trial although they were too mentally impaired to do so, and people who were children at the time of their conviction and incarceration. This book made me incredulous, and then appalled, and then angry; how do we allow such corruption and bias in a system that is supposed to be about justice, but is really about how much money you have and who you know? It’s insane that, not only are innocent people on death row and serving life sentences, but the process of getting them released even after they are proven innocent is so difficult and can take years, if it ever happens at all. How Mr. Stevenson was able to persevere through all the times when many people would have thrown in the towel is a testament to the amazing person he is. He helps the broken, the people outcast by society, the people who don’t have anyone else to help them.
The main story line followed Walter McMillan, a black man on death row who is completely innocent of the murder he was accused of committing. The state of Alabama’s entire case was based on the false testimony of a man who was coerced and threatened by law enforcement and the prosecution to lie. Walter had an iron-clad alibi, but no representation to speak of, and he was sentenced to death row. The chapters that told Walter’s story were interspersed with the stories of many, many others in similar predicaments. While it wasn’t my favorite format, it did allow Stevenson to give the reader a more complete picture of the injustices in our judicial system, putting human faces on the anecdotes, while also building suspense in the narrative about Walter.
This is such an incredible, well-written book. It is a difficult, heavy read, but an important one. I am so glad that people like Bryan Stevenson exist, and that he has gotten to tell his story.
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A Systems View of Incarceration
Stevenson, B. (2014). Just mercy: A story of justice and redemption. Spiegel & Grau.Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, social justice activist, law professor at New York University School of Law, and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.The book follows Stevenson’s thinking as a lawyer whose mission was to assist the incarcerated, particularly condemned people on death row in Alabama. According to Stevenson, "This book is about getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America. It is about how easily we condemn people in this country and the injustice we create when we allow fear, anger, and distance to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us. " Themes include mass incarceration as a phenomenon including the shear #s of incarcerated, incarceration of Blacks, children, women, and mentally ill. He said, "The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. " He described four factors influencing our approach to race and justice: (a) Slavery including the reign of terror characterized by lynching and arrests following the collapse of Reconstruction; (b) Reenslavement through convict leasing introduced at the end of the 19th c. to criminalize former slaves and convict them so that they could "leased" to businesses and effectively forced back into slave labor. (c) Jim Crow laws introducing racial segregation and suppression of basic rights; and (d) Incarceration and creation of the prison industrial complex. Despite all that he'd witnessed, Stevenson asserted, "There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity. I am more than broken. In fact, there is strength, power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy. . . . .You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us. "It's difficult to see the judicial system as "just" with headlines describing police brutality, unlawful arrest, racial prejudice, etc. Reading Stevenson's book provides language for systemic issues related to policing and incarceration. Such a good read, this would be a super text for those interested in incarceration and systems thinking. He moves us beyond 2D thinking to seeing the complexity.
Top reviews from other countries
- Robert MurdockReviewed in Canada on July 8, 2021
Cries out Why? How can this happen?
- Shivkumar SReviewed in India on August 15, 2022
Powerful read. Informative and thought provoking
- Cliente AmazonReviewed in Italy on June 11, 2022
True stories of hope in a broken system of justice
