Just Mercy

Author Bryan Stevenson is a Harvard-educated lawyer, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in 1989.  Initially EJI represented inmates on Alabama’s death row, who were unable to afford adequate legal representation.  What Stevenson discovered was a system that reeked of injustice. He found that many of his clients were victims of a “perfect storm” – one which was literally a lethal mix of racism, prosecutorial misconduct, and judicial politics.

Just Mercy primarily focuses on the unfair and unjust application of the death penalty.  However, it also highlights the work of EJI to help other individuals including juveniles who have fallen prey to a draconian sentencing system born out of a climate of fear.  Throughout the book Stevenson shares shocking stories of the wrongfully convicted and of juvenile offenders who received life sentences without the possibility of parole.  Readers will find these accounts absolutely heart-wrenching and jaw-dropping.

Stevenson is by no means arguing that people who commit crimes shouldn’t suffer consequences, but only that the punishment should fit the crime.  He also argues that our criminal justice system should be reformed to focus on rehabilitation as opposed to vengeance.