Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

                This is the story of Walter McMillan, a man on death row in Alabama, awaiting an execution date for a murder he claims he didn’t commit. This is the story of Bryan Stevenson, a young, black lawyer who founded Equal Justice Initiative, in hopes of helping those who had fallen victim to an unjust legal system. This is the story of how Bryan Stevenson saved Walter McMillan from the execution chair by fighting for his freedom and revealing the holes in a case based off corrupt witness testimony, lies, and deceit. But this is also the story of many other people living behind bars, hoping for a chance at freedom, even though the odds are stacked against them.

                This book was absolutely incredible and extremely disheartening. Stevenson, in telling this story, reveals so much about what is wrong in our criminal justice. And he does it in such a way, that it is extremely hard to refute. He is full of compassion and he is able to do what so many others blatantly refuse to do and that’s see people that have committed crimes as human. Stevenson looks at each prisoner, not as a case number or crime or statistic but as a person. Too often we see people punished because they are seen as an other and their humanity is totally stripped from them. Stevenson doesn’t allow himself or the reader to take away someone’s humanity. That makes such a difference when you look at issues like capital punishment, treating child offenders as adults, sentencing, mental illness, abuse and so many other circumstances that affect the criminal justice system. I couldn’t stop reading this book. It contains so much information and yet it is a very intimate look, not only at Bryan and Walter, but of the many other people that Bryan mentioned and whose cases he worked on. Walter is the focus because his situation was so atrocious and so blatantly corrupted that it is hard to believe it even happened. But it did happen and if it weren’t for Bryan and those who worked at Equal Justice Initiative, Walter would have been killed even though he was innocent.

                Some books are meant to challenge your way of thinking and make you uncomfortable. Those are usually the books that affect us most and shake us to our very core. Just Mercy is one of those books for me, because of the way in which Stevenson discussed capital punishment and the detail that he provided of many of the intricacies in sentencing. I was never aware of much of the information that he detailed and reading this book makes me want to educate others and myself more on these topics. This book was so well written. I immediately began to trust Stevenson and became invested in the outcome of his cases and the many people he discussed. Stevenson continues to fight the good fight and it’s because of his dedication to reforming the criminal justice that we are able to see changes. I’m so grateful that he chose to share this story and this information. I highly recommend this book. I give this 5 out of 5 stars.