Good Justice And Mercy Essay Example

“Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson (2014) really uncovers the devastating truth behind our justice system, from people who provide false testimony on a whim, to biased jurors, to an entire court system that does not, chooses not, to recognize its own errors. The book focuses on the Walter McMillan case, and is interwoven with chapters of how Stevenson came to study law, with different cases he’s worked on braided in with accurate and relevant facts throughout. The story, from a perspective as a person that is relatively against the death penalty, and certainly is against youth being punished to “die in prison” (a term used by Stevenson that is much more factual) is heartbreaking to read. It is unbelievable to think, as a nation that claims to be civilized, that we impose these penalties without any basis in truth.
The biggest appeal to end the death penalty and death in prison sentences is that we still fail to serve justice at such fundamental levels. There was not a shred of actual physical evidence that Walter had even been near the scene of Ronda Morrison’s murder. The negative correlation made between Walter comes from a completely unrelated murder, in which Walter testified to having sexual relations with that murderer beforehand. From there, the case just digresses further into racist conjecture and posturing. Walter was put on death row before even being tried, which is a violation of constitutional rights guaranteed to any citizen not found guilty of a crime.
At this point in the book, one wonders whether the story is even real. The lunacy and childish way that the police department carries out its “investigation” is stunningly devoid of legal protocol.The physical evidence, i.e. taped recordings, prove beyond reasonable doubt that they coerced witnesses, even putting one of them on death row because he did not want to comply with what the officers and district attorney were forcing him to do! The question I had reading the entire book is, at what point, assuming the case against Walter is resolved and that this is, in fact, a work of nonfiction, when are these people going to face prosecution, have their licenses taken away, and go to jail for their federally criminal activities? Then thinking on it, this is probably the point of the entire book. There is no justice for the impoverished, especially if the impoverished are minorities.
The second chapter reinforced this opinion. It also gives context to the crimes that are being committed by the police now, it seems, on an everyday basis. There is no common sense in pulling someone over for a small traffic violation, then beating the crud out of them, and then, when imprisoning the victim for something that did not call for unreasonable punishment, they are denied proper medical care. Stevenson then successfully argues that racial profiling is used quite frequently, especially in the south, even when there is no call for it. Why should anyone have to anticipate being shot and killed while reaching for their identification.
Though Stevenson did not technically commit a crime himself while he was detained by cops while listening to music in his car, I am actually unconvinced that the police were completely out of order. Sitting in a car, smoking a cigarette and listening to music at an odd time of night, in a poor neighborhood and in front of an apartment building would probably constitute suspicious activity regardless of race. He still had the right to feel humiliated and file a complaint, but it is not surprising that the complaint was not investigated further. I would expect to be detained if I were doing the same activities under the same circumstances.
Regardless, Stevenson’s fate was determined by this event, in a very positive and important way. First by speaking at various organizations where people are at risk of being mistreated by the police, black communities and neighborhoods that have all but been blighted due to lack of investment in its economy. Then he goes on to do the very most prolific work a person can. He takes cases of those who are sentenced to die, whether it be by death penalty or death by prison. Even if his own story didn’t convince anybody reading it, it is depressing to think there are people who are going to read this and think that no injustice based on race, mental aptitude, or income is occurring.
Throughout the book, the story of Walter McMillian is carried through. Despite the star witness recanting his story completely and with new evidence proving beyond doubt that Walter could not have been at the scene of the crime. Despite overwhelmingly compelling evidence, the case still gets dropped several more times, all the while, Stevenson is receiving bomb and other types of death threats. It strikes me that this is all taking place in Monroe County, Alabama. “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written there, and everyone acts like the book is their greatest treasure and proof of their stance on racial equality. The public proves to be completely fruitless when a very parallel story actually happens in their town. It is as if they took all the memorabilia throughout the county, gathered it up and burned it in resounding, united rage against this innocent man due only to his color.
The case is eventually taken back up, and after six years on death row, McMillian is finally released. Unfortunately, the abuse that he suffered by seeing other paper die before him while there takes a toll on his own life, which Stevenson first notices while McMillian is giving an interview. He is later diagnosed with very early onset dementia, which Stevenson (probably correctly) asserts that the dementia was set on in a physiological attempt to shelter Walter from the experiences he had while on death row.
The rest of the book discusses income, race and inequality via many other tragic cases. The cases of the young and poor kids of minority status are just as if not more unbelievable. Sending a fourteen year-old-child to prison until he dies because he “kidnapped” a grown police officer, who sustained no injuries, and was not even threatened with injury, is appalling to say the very least. He was the youngest person in the world to be serving a life sentence for a nonviolent crime.
This leads to my final thoughts on the book. It is outrageous that our justice system is being turning into free labor in for-profit businesses. As a culture, Americans are being encouraged to buy more goods that were made in America. What guarantee do we have that the product we are buying wasn’t made by forced labor in a new slave-prison system. The fact that we have let this go on for as long as it has is tyrannical. It goes against every fiber of who we are supposed to be as Americans. It is unconstitutional based on more amendments than I can count, All because these people have a different color of skin, are from neighborhoods of little to no affluence or opportunity.
It seems as though we have selected the most incorrect multiple choice selection for the question as follows: “How do we resolve the problems of racial and income inequality in the United States?” With the possible choices: “A) we subsidize businesses and training programs in areas of slow or negative economic growth, while auditing police activity and trials were injustice may have occurred. B) Create an even bigger welfare system that keeps people at the bottom rung of society, or C)incarcerate and enslave anybody who is too poor, too black, too Latino, etc. and force them to work for free for corporations that expose the very worst corners of our society.” This book has given me a sense of necessity to fight for equal treatment and justice for all people, regardless of race or other socio-economic status. This cannot be who we are.