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Just Poverty In Just Mercy, By Bryan Stevenson

Decent Essays
In our country, hundreds of people are apprehended every day for misdemeanors crimes. Our local justice system will then charge these individuals with fines that can be as much as $2,000 or more. Failure to pay this said fine can immediately result in potential jail time. Yet, if you can pay your bail, you will spend no more than 24 hours in a local facility. Many of these people are poor, while the remainder of these people tends to be middle to upper-class citizens.

The 14th Amendment is set in place to protect citizens from being denied the “equal protection of the laws”. This statement requires all branches of government to treat everyone equally. In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson shares stories about the unjust treatment many of his clients received at the hands of the American Justice System. Many of which were poor, lower class citizens who had committed a crime. All of which were charged wrongfully.

Bryan Stevenson was a lawyer based out of Montgomery, Alabama. He helped many of these people get an honest, fair sentence. Through the publication of his book, he has educated many on the reality of our prison systems in America. He shares his firsthand accounts of children being charged as adults, innocent men being charged for crimes they had clearly not had any involvement with, and women living in poverty being charged with murder for burying their stillborn children. All of these cases had one thing in common: poverty.

Poverty is defined as the state of being
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