“Just Mercy” is Bryan Stevenson’s Perspective on the American Criminal Justice System

Stevenson argues that the society should be aware rather than punishment. His personal stories share a representation of the criminal justice system. Stevenson is responsible for reducing the amount of wrongly accused victims.

Throughout the story Just Mercy, the author, Bryan Stevenson, uses an optimistic tone. During cases, he would notice that things weren’t going the way he expected. However, he still had hope in those situations. Bryan Stevenson uses real life experiences to bring awareness to incarceration. He uses his experiences to connect with people in order for them to understand and have a certain feeling towards the injustice system.

The symbols in this book consists of To Kill A Mockingbird, which was a book written by Harper Lee. This book was a representation of Walter McMillian’s case. This novel is about a black man who was falsely accused of rape leading to a white lawyer not defending him. This novel represents Walter’s case due to ignorance and racial violence. Just Mercy is an incredible book because it does a good job of shaping the public’s thoughts and feelings about criminal justice and cases.

Trina Garrett grew up in poverty where she witnessed her mother and siblings being brutally abused by her father. Her mother then passed away when she nine, leading up to her father sexually abusing Trina and her sisters. She ran away with her sisters and began to be hospitalized for psychiatric problems. However, Trina and her friends decided to break into a house in which they caught on fire. The children inside the house had died. This applies to my life because a close family member of mine has been sexually abused, which caused her to have the wrong mentality about certain things. The abuse caused her to do bad things that she was not intentionally trying to do. Stevenson connected with me when he believed that if the local officials would of been aware that Trina Garrett was hospitalized for her condition, they would have a better understanding on why she made the decision that she made. Stevenson believed that the judge gave her the most harsh sentence there was. This is a huge impact on my life due to the fact that my family went through the same situation at one point in time.

The most important event in Just Mercy was when Stevenson met a close friend, Henry, when he attending law school. This changed Stevenson’s career. He began to recognize his passion in fighting for the death penalty and prison justice. This was the most important event because Stevenson made a connection with a man that he thought he would fear. Stevenson realized that Henry had a precious gift when he began to sing as he was being escorted out of the room. This moment touched Stevenson and made him feel warmth and kindness with Henry. I believe that this was the beginning turning point in Just Mercy.

Injustice is the thematic idea of this book. This idea is shown within the text because throughout this book, there are some cases in which there was unfairness in the death penalty or with people. “”The death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?”” Stevenson explains that we are more than the worst things that we have ever done. I believe that the crimes that people commit are based upon how people were raised, or how their mentality is set up. Just Mercy is a story of true personal experiences that represents injustice in the criminal justice system.”

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