#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • 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’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and … me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend
NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • 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.
Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book
“Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books
“Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
“You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review
“Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post
“As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times
“Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Just stunning. Sometimes I am amazed that I can still be so trusting. The author runs a non-profit that represents people who have been sentenced to death without proper representation and in some cases, manufactured facts. I was riveted and sick at the same time. There but for the grace of God…
This book was like a window into another world: the South and particularly Alabama, dangerous prisons, a deeply flawed legal system, death-row inmates, problematic laws and litigation, and the historical contexts that led to today’s racism. Partly because Stevenson sustains such a balanced, calm tone, there were times when I felt the injustices so deeply I wanted to hunt down these judges and law enforcement personnel and ask “What on earth were you thinking?” But as the author says, Everyone is more than their worst act, and he includes several anecdotes that reflect how people can grow and change. The book reads a bit like the suspenseful page-turner A TIME TO KILL but also reflects wryly on how TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is, in fact, a novel about an attorney who *fails* to defend an innocent black man. I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of what attorneys working to defend people in poverty, particularly people of color, are up against. I’m deeply grateful that the author wrote this book, on top of what sounds like an impossibly busy and challenging day job.
One of the best books I’ve ever read, but very depressing. Had to intersperse with light reading. Very well written, totally appalling true story.
Bryan Stevenson is remarkable. A strong Christian, he uses his Harvard Law education to care for “the least of these” through the Equal Justice Initiative. This book is filled with stories of mostly poor, mostly African-American prisoners who were treated with appalling injustice. Stevenson writes well too, and the stories are gripping. He went on to found the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, commonly known as the “lynching museum.”
Bryan Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama and a professor of law at New York University Law School. His dedication to equal justice started in 1983 when he was a twenty-three year old law student at Harvard, assigned to an internship in Georgia.
President Obama commuted the sentences of men and women who were imprisoned for nonviolent offences. Their sentences were found to be excessive and their behavior while imprisoned, continued to be nonviolent, not a threat to themselves or others. In a speech, President Obama noted that volunteer and other organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative helped gather the information on prisoners who were selected for the commutation. The participation of these organizations was necessary and many of them raised private funds because Congress has not acted on funding to investigate the inequality in our current criminal justice system. In our current political campaigns, it is apparent that fear and distance can influence the way we view people and their vulnerabilities. Distance and an inability to empathize with a population can increase that fear and misunderstanding. Stevenson says, “Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”
According to Stevenson spending on jails and prisons by state and federal government has risen from $6.9 billion in 1980 to nearly $80 billion in 2014. The current cost is probably much higher. Prisons and prisoner health care is big business. Between 1990 and 2005, a new prison opened in the United States every ten days.
It is a fact that a large number of the excessive sentences have been delivered to people of color and children. Some of Stevenson’s most heartbreaking cases were those of children sentenced in adult courts to life in prison. By the mid 1980’s, nearly 20 percent of the people in jails and prisons in the United States had served in the military. Today, over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States have a diagnosed mental illness. This rate is nearly five time greater than that of the general population. Stevenson details his work with wrongly imprisoned men of color on death row. He has been successful in arguing in the Supreme Court for changes in the way children are incarcerated in some southern states and he is also responsible for changing the way juries are selected in some areas. Stevenson’s narrative is threaded with his visits in prisons and the inmates he was able to interact with–Walter McMillian among them. Stevenson and others were responsible for having Walter’s case reviewed and bringing forth evidence that secured Walter’s release from death row, after being wrongly convicted and sentenced for murder.
Stevenson says, “This book is about getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America. It is about how easily we condemn people in this country and the injustice we create when we allow fear, anger, and distance to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us.” His proximity to his clients taught him a new way of thinking about them and other vulnerable people. He had an epiphany about mercy and forgiveness and no one can explain it better than him. “Mercy is most empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven’t earned it, who haven’t even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion. Walter genuinely forgave the people who unfairly accused him . . . and in the end, it was just mercy toward others that allowed him to recover a life worth celebrating.”
Stevenson discovered the meaning of mercy in all the people he has worked with and in his experiences, discovered their impact on his life had been greater than his on theirs. Teachers, social workers, first responders, volunteers, and many others who daily interface with the most vulnerable people can probably identify, and I highly recommend Stevenson’s book for everyone, but especially for those who think they might not be able to identify.
Amazing stories of racial injustice, unreasonable prison sentences and rushed executions in the 80’s as discovered by attorney Mr. Stevenson and his colleagues. Their attempts to right wrongs were a challenge and truly amazing story.
This book is life changing. One of my top 20 favorite books of all time.
Great story of a man dedicated to righting wrongs in our society.
Bryan Stevenson is a real-world hero, and Just Mercy is well worth your time. It’s horrifying and uplifting all at once, and man, the world is messed up because this is not fiction! Kudos to Bryan Stevenson for his dedication, passion, and compassion, right along with all the people who work with him.
There is so much happening beyond our own lived experiences, and “Just Mercy” is an eye-opening look into the criminal justice system with a focus on the death penalty. We have so much to learn about how race factors into the systems in our nation, and this is one aspect that needs attention.
A ‘must read’ for anyone interested in racial justice, and/or the real history of racial injustice that has taken place in our country and is continuing to take place. These are real people, and represent only a small number of the many cases that continue to take place in our country.
This shocking, mesmerizing, sobering and, at times, unbelievable first-person account by Attorney Bryan Stevenson about his work representing marginalized clients simply CAN’T be missed.
Based in Alabama, a state with one of this country’s highest execution rates, Stevenson has dedicated his career to providing free legal services to the poor, black, young, and otherwise underprivileged clients or death row or facing excessive prison sentences.
This is an ideal choice for anyone:
• Who believes the U.S. legal system dispenses justice most of the time.
• Who wonders we have so many people in prison.
• Who thinks minors who commit criminal acts should be treated differently than adults
• Who believes we have largely achieved the goal of equal rights in this country.
• Who wants to understand racism in America.
• Who believes that lack of money and privilege is no barrier during legal proceedings.
• Who wants to truly understand how the criminal justice system in America operates.
It’s well written, suspenseful, even inspirational at points. It may even redeem your faith in humanity. And if you don’t wind up wanting to contribute to Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, you must be made of steel.
Bryan Stephenson is the ‘hero’ of many. He is relentless in his pursuit of justice for those who are powerless in the face of an often ‘uncaring’ legal system as it relates to blacks, other minorities and those living in poverty.
Very interesting, also quite troubling. This is non-fiction and may make you angry. I’ve read it twice.
This beautiful, true story by one of the most important prisoner reformers of our time reminds us of what a social justice activist might be who approaches his mission from a place of genuine compassion rather than ideology. In this book you really get to see how racism in our country works at both the systemic and individual level, as Stevenson searingly recounts how Walter McMillan, a poor African American man he represents, is sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit. A powerful, true story of “justice and redemption,” as the book’s subtitle promises, Just Mercy is also a moving account of the friendship between two men–Stevenson and his client, McMillan–who both struggle to maintain hope and fight for what is right in a world riddled with injustice and defined by the law of expediency. Both Stevenson refuses to preach or adopt a self-righteous stance. He speaks with pain in his heart and a fire in his soul, but never a chip on his shoulder, despite the horrific moral injustices which he has witnessed throughout his career. As a moving story, Just Mercy is a five out of five stars. As a statement of social justice rooted in the spiritual principles of love and humility, the book is even greater still.
Loved this book and have such respect for the person who wrote it.
This is an important true story about the gut-wrenching injustice in our judicial system for the oppressed and the poor in our country. Bryon Stevenson, a selfless, compassionate attorney, factually explains what he encounters in his practice and what extraordinary effort it takes to overcome the inherent inequities and horrendous treatment experienced by both the innocent and the guilty. This book has haunted me long after I read it and probably always will.
I know I’m 27 years old, but I want to be Bryan Stevenson when I grow up. What an insanely inspiring man with an amazing purpose. I really appreciated the history facts because I truly got to learn something new a lot of the time, and many of the times the facts were eye-opening! On top of that, this book made me feel sadness, anger, inspired, and proud.
I’ve never forgotten this book: everyone should know abt. it: READ IT!
In the past I have been in favor of capital punishment for certain crimes. After reading this book the times when capital punishment should be done in my opinion will be extremely limited if at all. The author does a masterful job of putting you right in the center of the lives of people on death row or kids who have been incarcerated for life as children. He reveals the unbelievable prejudice that has been the practice of too many states long past the civil rights era. I think this author deserves a special place in heaven when he arrives.