Just Mercy : A Story Of Justice And Redemption

The defense's opening statement should have attacked the evidence that the state provided, and also attacked McGlothlin's credibility. The defense's opening statement should have consisted of a description of the friendly relationship that existed between Roger Coleman and the McCoys. It also should have also included Coleman's alibi--Philip VanDyke--and the fact that VanDyke's time card reinforces the time that he said he was with Coleman and the time that he clocked into his job. Arey and Jordan also had an opportunity to smear McGlothlin's credibility by referring to evidence that he failed to mention in his opening argument--the pry mark on the door, the broken fingernails on the victim but no scratches on Coleman, and that the substance found on the victim was soil, not coal dust, which had been on Coleman's clothes. The defense counsel didn't refer to any of those facts. No scientific evidence was brought up, and it failed to respond to McGlothin's statement that there was evidence that Coleman had in fact admitted to committing the crime. The opening statement was a complete

During Tom Robinson’s trial, the strong prejudice of Maycomb County and the negative effects of its social stratification were clearly demonstrated. Whilst Tom Robinson is innocent of the crime of rape, he gave the Caucasians more reason to convict him on the basis of daring to feel sorry for a Caucasian - it is not expected that a negro (considered as being a part of the lowest class of society, event lower than the ‘white trash’) could feel sorry for a Caucasian and the Caucasians could not accept such a presumption.

In 1920, Oscar Micheaux directed the silent film Within Our Gates which conducts an in-depth examination of race relations and discrimination within the United States. One of the outcomes of the film is a blatant failure of justice resulting in the lynching of an African American couple, The Landrys. Seemingly, time has not altered the inherent absence of justice concerning the treatment of Black men and women in situations where criminal activity is suspected, legitimately or otherwise. Evidence is found with the killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and many other Black victims who died at the hands of police who are tasked with upholding justice and fail to do so. However, what was the popular sentiment toward failure within the legal system between 1920 and 2015? While not representative of this entire time span, in 1962, Robert Mulligan’s film To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on race relations and an African American male wrongly accused of rape who is ultimately killed in a suspicious police shooting. Within Our Gates and To Kill a Mockingbird each offer a presentation of a gross miscarriage of justice that is obvious to the omniscient viewer, but the reaction the films garner from the audience varies from outrage to resignation due to the implementation (or lack thereof) of a visual stimuli, telling of the time period in which the films were produced.

In the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, the author is a lawyer and founder of the Equal Injustice Initiative who helps and defends those that are in desperate needs. Stevenson tells different stories of different cases that he had through the course of his professional career. One of the most heartbreaking stories that Stevenson shares on his books is about a boy named Charlie. Charlie is a fourteen years old who murdered his stepfather because he was abusive with his mom and left her unconscious on the floor. Charlie was sentenced to an adult prison because his stepfather was an ex-police officer. When Steven heard about Charlie’s case he ran to the prison to go see him and the first thing that Charlie tells Stevenson is how every night he would get sexually abused in prison by so many men ,and how they would do really awful things to him. “Florida is one of a few states that allows the prosecutor to decide to charge a child in adult court for certain crimes and has no minimum age for trying a child as an adult.”(Stevenson). Charlie’s case is not an unusual one. There are hundreds of prisoners currently in US prisons who are suffering ridiculous prison sentences while other prisoners with more violent, heinous, and terrible crimes have been sentenced to lesser time in jail or are already out. In order to understand why this is still a problem, it’s important to first understand the current issues facing prisons today and what effects come from these issues. Then

Racial prejudice against McMillian is shown when the case was moved to a predominantly white county, therefore excluding other African-Americans from participating in the trail. Another example of racial prejudice against McMillian is shown when the court determines him to be guilty, despite hundreds of alibis proving his innocence and faulty allegations (Stevenson, 2014, p. 49-52, 66). These two examples show how racism plagues the American criminal

In the novel, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, it is extremely apparent that there is a link between poverty, wealth, injustice, and justice. This book incorporates a strong theme of poverty and how it relates to justice, as well as injustice. Furthermore, it very apparently works to explain and provide examples of problems within the justice system, and the urgency that these be corrected. One major problem being poverty in relation to obtaining justice. This being said, throughout my personal reading of the book, I have come to agree with Stevenson's statement, "the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice" (Stevenson 18).

The Klu Klux Klan, one of the most recognised hate groups in US history, was founded in 1865. They were under the impression that people of color were less valuable than white people, some even believing that they weren't human. Something people don’t realize is that groups like that are still around today, and just as active as ever. Hate groups, and just random unorganised hate crimes are just as real as me and you, and they are still an active threat. Hate Crime is relevant, and as a society, we should be doing our best to snuff out the flames of prejudice and resentment that burn in the hearts of anyone willing to participate in such unjust behavior. This kind of activity is not only hurtful emotionally, but sometimes, it turns to violence. Innocent people getting picked off the street simply because of their beliefs, who they love, or the color of their skin. This is something that nobody should stand for, especially now, in this constantly progressing world. All in all, Hate Crimes are a real problem, and in order to stop injustice such as this, we need to work together as human beings to accept people, regardless of who they are.

Just Mercy was written in 2014 by Stevenson Bryan. This story takes place in Montgomery Alabama. This story is about the broken system of justice. How people are judged unfairly even in the supreme Court. Bryan Stevenson primarily focuses on death penalty cases and juveniles sentenced to life or death. He provides relief for those incarcerated also, he understands the need to fix this criminal justice system by focusing on poverty, and racial disparities. Stevenson chooses cases that did not receive justice. This book discusses the prison life and how they are treated. It also decides about the different cases and how each case has one theory. It provides additional insight into the rush to incarcerate for life people as young teenagers, putting them in an adult prison. Where they are certain to suffer from sexual, mentally and physical abuse.

Bryan Stevenson, the author of Just Mercy, has many themes in his book. One of which is the importance of human life. He goes through many cases of which, in the end, he realizes that every human deserves empathy and mercy and a fair chance at living their lives. Throughout the novel there is one specific case that changes Stevenson’s perspective the most however. This case is the Walter McMillian case that demonstrates the unfairness that was tolerated for death row inmates. Stevenson expresses this theme throughout the book. Some examples are through the McMillian case, the mental patient case, the juvenile case, and his own experience.

Just mercy is a powerful novel Written by Bryan Stevenson in the book he put us in a different world. while he depicts the social injustices he experiences while he defended an innocent man. Walter whom was set up for a murder of a women named Ronda even with multiple witnesses he is still convicted. Which made this be my topic of interest during the time that I was reading Just Mercy. Because In this society we have a race based institution where they can directly say a African American is guilty without fair trial. in the which mean that African Americans are “Guilty until proven innocent”. which is the opposite when it come to the opposite races.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds are connected, not only by their similar story lines but by the theme and moral lessons each book puts forward. Just Mercy, A Story Of Justice And Redemption, is written from the viewpoint of Mr. Stevenson as he goes through many people's cases trying to give them the justice they deserve. All American Boys is the story of a young teenage boy who is beaten up by a cop because it is believed he is stealing a bag of chips.

Looking at the cover of the book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redempt, written by Bryan Stevenson, one could not understand what would be thrown at them after opening the crisp pages. Breaking the title of the book down, we know what ‘mercy’ is defined as the feeling toward offenders through a person with the ability to oversee justice within our system. Furthermore, the two words ‘just mercy’ is implied that our officials that are administering the justice within our system go about it in a conscionable way. Stevenson’s starts off with an autobiographical introduction that sets forth how the context will be delivered to the readers. From the start, Stevenson explains how he got into the profession of defense law.

When it comes to any Criminal Justice System everyone hopes that it is fair and effective. In some situations, the effectiveness sadly becomes more important than being fair. When a crime is done, anxiety of the city’s population to find the killer/rapist/robber puts pressure on police officers and state officials. This may result in a problematic condition to hunt down and convict whoever may fall under the characteristics of the original offender, even if innocent. The author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, gives a look into the reality of how corrupt and unjust America’s Criminal Justice System can be. Stevenson graduated from Harvard Law School and founded the Equal Justice Initiative, which is a legal practice that helps defend virtually anyone who is in need of help and does not have the funds to get help. Within Just Mercy, Stevenson talks about legal cases he worked with through the Equal Justice Initiative that have proven the Criminal Justice System is not always fair and is not quick to correct those errors. Throughout the book, it becomes very obvious on how important these issues are and why there is a need to discontinue these problems, as well as ignoring these problems. Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy does an extraordinary job at evaluating the fairness of the Criminal Justice System, although the consistency of who Stevenson is talking about is at times may be hard to follow.

content of their character.” This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. was spoken many years ago, yet there is still a racism problem today. Although some aspects of the problem have gotten better, most of them are still unresolved. Many people don’t realize how serious of a problem racism is all around the country. Racism in the criminal justice system is still a huge problem today.

In the first half of Stevenson’s Just Mercy, he depicts this almost binary system within his experiences in the justice system: a majority class and a vulnerable class, with a few outliers in between. The majority class operates for those in power and actively against the vulnerable. By attacking the vulnerable, it performs as almost a fuel for those within the system who have ambition to ascend its ranks. For example, by Alabama using elections to select its judges (70), this allows the system to uphold the desires and opinions of those in the majority, without any checks and balances on the equity of the system and its integrity to the law. The system, in a sense, becomes an arm of the majority, not an institution grounded in equitable justice