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

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a difficult, but oh so necessary read. I was late to the party on this one. I hadn't heard anything about it until I saw it on a list of "books to read before you watch the movie." I am not a huge non-fiction reader just because I tend to find it too wordy and cumbersome and I enjoy escaping into fiction. However, this is an important topic and so I bought a copy a couple of months ago from a local bookstore. This week I felt drawn to pick it up and honestly expected it to take me at least a week to get through it assuming that I would break it up with something fiction in between. How wrong I was. I picked it up yesterday afternoon and finished this morning.

The way the author structured this book was so well done it really kept you engaged throughout. The main story highlighted on the book summary is that of Walter McMillian, who Bryan (author/lawyer) met as a young attorney after Walter had been sentenced to death for the murder of a woman - a murder he didn't commit. That story is woven throughout the book where the author is made to face the corruption and injustices that are too often found in small towns.

Interspersed throughout the book in between Walter's story are so many other stories of cases and inmates that the author came across in his legal career. Some he helped, some he couldn't. But they all made an impact on him - and will make an impact on you.

The author shares stories of injustices towards juveniles, women, minorities and the intellectually disabled. I have so many markers on the pages throughout this book of things that just made my jaw drop. Here are a few things that really stood out to me...(Please excuse the truncated nature of these bullet points... this is really more for me to remember for future discussion than anything else.)

• Pg 53: The police put Walter on Death Row while he was still awaiting trial!
• Pg 62: The change of venue was granted (rarely happens) and then the case was moved to the only neighboring county that had less than 10% African American population (where getting a jury of Walter's peers was going to be next to impossible)
• Pg 90: The author is discussing some of his arguments against the death penalty and says: "we would never think it was humane to pay someone to rape people convicted of rape or assault and abuse someone guilty of assault or abuse.  Yet we are comfortable killing people who kill, in part because we think we can do it in a manner that doesn't implicate our own humanity, the way that raping or abusing someone would."  
• I flagged this section because I am not sure how I feel about it.  Whether I agree.  But it was a powerful statement.  One that I will continue to think about.
• Pg 123: The heartbreaking story of 13 year old Charlie who shot his mom's abusive boyfriend and was put into the adult prison.  13 year old boys should not be in adult prisons.  Terrible things happen.
• Pg 147:  The entire Chapter 8: All God's Children.  All these stories of the children just really broke my heart.   There is a lot that needs to be done about our juvenile justice system.
• Pg 191:  The case of George who had an impostor/FRAUD with no medical training who examined him and declared him competent to stand trial when he clearly wasn't.  This dude had spent EIGHT YEARS in a hospital conducting competency evaluations!  
•  Pg 234: The case against Victoria Banks where she was coerced into pleading guilty for killing her infant - a child she never had! Apparently she had lied to a deputy and said she was pregnant to avoid jail time on an unrelated matter.  When later, she never actually had a child they accused her of killing it.  
• Pg 298: The author discusses how the media had "innocence fatique" and started shying away from publicizing "another story about another wrong convicted person."  Ugh.  This is so frustrating and I can totally see it happening.  We are a generation who just doesn't like to be constantly reminded that we are still surrounded by shitty things and despite our progress, there is still ground to be made up.  

I encourage you to read this book. I encourage you to get mad about it. Then I encourage you to do something. Vote. Donate. Or at the very least, be a "stonecatcher." (Read the book!)


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