Just Mercy

It’s hard to find nonfiction books that feel a lot like fiction, and we sprinted through this book for that reason.

The author weaves personal narrative and public policy into a web that depicts the very tragic impact of unjust laws and racism.

We read the book after seeing the movie (which is also incredible), and we can say that we were just as impacted and enamored as we were during the film. Maybe even more! 

Distinguished human rights attorney, Bryan Stevenson provides a blueprint for getting proximate to the injustices surrounding us.

It is an invitation to create meaningful change. Stevenson draws upon his experience in representing poor and disenfranchised clients. Through these experiences, he demonstrates how to seek justice and love mercy with the hopes of not only transforming the legal system but also transforming our communities.

While this is by far not a children’s book, I feel strongly it is a book that should be required reading for all high school students across the entire country. I pretty much have nothing more to say than that.

This book literally changed my view of our criminal justice system in the most powerful way possible. Be prepared it is very hard to read, not because of the reading level, but the content. That is exactly why it should be read.

No one should hide their head in the sand and be unaware of the ways incarcerated people are… show more.

Bryan Stevenson is a personal hero of mine; his decades of work representing people charged with crimes that could send them to death row, as well as his anti-poverty, racial justice, and criminal justice reform work through the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, are an inspiration.

Just Mercy traces the early days of the Equal Justice Initiative and focuses on one of EJI’s first clients, Walter McMillian, who was sentenced to die for the murder of a white woman he didn’t commit.

Through McMillian’s story, Stevenson shines a powerful light on the racial and economic inequities baked into our… show more.

Until I read the heart-breaking Just Mercy, I felt knowledgeable about corruption in some parts of our justice system. The treatment of people of color in the South can be especially egregious. But in many locales, juveniles, the mentally challenged, and poor citizens are often brutalized and inhumanely treated by corrupt officials. 

Author Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard Law School graduate, founded the Equal Justice Initiative, his non-profit that seeks “just mercy” for defendants like Charlie. At thirteen, Charlie was sent to an adult prison for killing his mother’s abusive boyfriend. He was repeatedly raped. There was Walter; a black man… show more.

Bryan Stevenson’s memoir documents his life devoted to righting wrongs in the American criminal justice system. He has saved innocent people from being executed. He has created the only living museum that chronicles lynchings in America. This is a powerful account of Stevenson’s awakening to miscarriages of justice at a time when mass incarceration began to overtake the United States. I have known Bryan for more than two decades. He is perhaps one of the most dedicated persons in the nation when it comes to correcting injustice.

I met Bryan Stevenson through my daughter who took his class on the death penalty at NYU Law School. He has been called America’s Nelson Mandela for his work heading the Equal Justice Initiative. We interviewed him for our film project American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton. He is an inspiring speaker and indefatigable advocate for clients railroaded to death row – as both his book Just Mercy and the movie based on it reveal. Stevenson exhibits a similar passion for justice to that displayed by Movement lawyer Fay Stender, co-counsel with Charles Garry in the defense of Panther… show more.

This book is heartbreaking. It will show you exactly how much we devalue human lives in this society. To me, it demonstrates just how real the threat of the unimaginable is to Black people in this country. At any moment, being in the wrong place at the wrong time can permanently alter your life, even kill you.

It also illustrates something I’ve always known to be true, the deep fallibility of the criminal justice system. How can we sentence someone to death when our system not only is wrong all the time, but also sets people up for these outcomes?