I am trying to read at least one anti-racism and/or social justice book a month. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson was the July pick for my true crime buddy read. I highly recommend that you pick up Just Mercy and grab a ton of stickies for annotation.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.

Review

Rating: 5 stars

“You’ve got to beat the drum for justice.”

Just Mercy, pg. 46

WOW. I picked Just Mercy as the July 2020 buddy read pick for my true crime buddy read group and I am disappointed in myself that it took this long for me to read it. 

I went through all of the emotions on this one: sadness, irritation, and anger. So many people who were wrongfully convicted that had everything going against them from the start of their trial. 

This should be required reading sometime in high school so that teenagers, 1) there are problems within the justice system and 2) innocent men and women are still fighting to be free due to unfair prosecution. 

I was aware that the system was flawed, but I didn’t realize how flawed it is, specifically in the state of Alabama. In true crime books and documentaries, it’s really not shared that people get the death penalty for more than just serial murder. After reading Just Mercy, I can 100% say that I believe that the death penalty should be illegal. 

I can’t believe how long it took for the Supreme Court to decide that juveniles could not receive the death penalty or that anyone with an intellectual disability should also not be subject to the death penalty (pg. 71).

Bryan shared so many stories off of death row and from life imprisonment without parole that made me want to throw the book at the wall in anger. The system failed so many times whether it be in racial profiling, assuming someone is bad due to lack of a stable home or income, or lack of an assigned attorney that will actually fight for their client.

Bryan and his team have helped so many people in the south become free after taking up their cases. However, they can’t be the only people doing the work. It takes more than just post conviction attorneys taking of appeals. Sheriffs, prosecutors, pathologists, and forensic scientists need to be held accountable. That means no racial profiling (which we know is still an issue in 2020), no getting rid of evidence after a trial, and testing everything that can be tested for DNA evidence. So many people have been cleared of what they were imprisoned for after their attorney finally got the evidence to be tested.

Have you read Just Mercy yet?