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Mikala Ballard
Just Mercy is a book written by Bryan Stevenson. The overall theme of just mercy is the unfairness and inequalities within the justice system. Throughout the book, we see how the Criminal Justice system is not built for the poor or the colored. Without Bryan, most of the people in these unfair cases would not have been saved.
In Just Mercy, we seen a lot of Racial injustice. The main example is Walter McMilllian. He was an African American man who was falsely convicted of murdering Rhonda Morrison, a dry-cleaning clerk. Although Walter had an alibi on the day of the murder from most of the town, because he was black they felt like he was the one who committed the murder. They hired a white man, Ralph Myers, paid him, and offered him time off his sentence to lie and say he seen Walter's low rider at the scene of the murder. The white man was given time off his sentence and Walter was put on death row. This is what you call racial injustice.
- "Police reported that the Morrison murder took place around 10:15 A.M., eleven miles or so from McMillian's home, at the same time that a dozen church members were at Walter's home selling food while Walter and jimmy worked on his truck. (Stevenson 51)"
- As Ralph said when they visited him, "I lied. Everything I said at McMillians's trial was a lie, I've lost a lot of sleep and have been in a lot of sleep and have been in a lot of pain over this. I can't be quiet and longer" (Stevenson 135).
Bryan talks a lot about Children being tried as an adult, and he talks even more about children being put in adult prisons. He made a chapter dedicated for the children, but he also talked about them through out the book. One child, Joshua Carter, who was only 14 years old and had mental issues. he thought he was going to be with friends, and instead they went to go rob and rape an elder lady and Josh was sentenced to die in jail. Bryan repeatedly talks about how bad kids are treated in prison and fights for them because he wants everyone to know how the Criminal Justice system treats minors.
Throughout the entire book, we see how people abuse their systemic power. When i say systemic power, I mean those people in the Criminal Justice system with power such as judges, sheriffs, and white lawyers. Multiple times throughout the book Bryan states Sheriff Tate, as well as the prison guards, were abusing their power. If Sheriff Tate didn't abuse his power, offer reduction in time, and pay people, Walter would have never been in his position. Bryan included all of this to show us how those with power used to, and maybe still do, abuse their power.
A major theme Bryan focused on in the end was the jail after life of these prisoners. He made sure to emphasize how most of these inmate life never went back to normal. We have inmates like Walter, who gained dementia, lost hi family, and life was so bad even no mental institutes wanted to take him. Then we have inmates like Trina Garret who has to live in a wheelchair for the rest of her life from gaining scoliosis in prison. Mr. Stevenson made sure we knew how traumatized and different all of their lives were after prison.