Category: Just Mercy

Ethical Dilemmas and Social Change in “Just Mercy”: Pursuing Justice and Empathy

Self-Awareness in Social Work

Within my role as a Community Health Worker, I am often faced with ethical dilemmas which require conflicting values and policies. The balance of what is morally right and wrong is constantly in my heart and mind when it comes to the vulnerable populations I work with. However, this module’s material has given me a deeper insight into what it actually means to be a self-aware social worker. I have always believed myself to be in tune with my own personal values and belief system, but now I realize that was only on a surface level. As a social worker, it is of the utmost importance to cast any judgments, biases, and assumptions about clients aside. According to Abramson, “the morally aware social worker will want to know what generates self-esteem, empowerment, and self-approval in him- or herself.”

She included numerous self-assessing questions that helped me understand my own morality, competency, and ethical viewpoints. Understanding my own self-worth, self-esteem, and ethical principles will allow me to view clients’ ethical dilemmas in a more empathic way. Previously, I attempted to take myself out of the equation and look at the client’s problem from their point of view. Now I am aware that everyone has their own individual experiences, beliefs, morals, and insights. It is impossible for me to “walk in someone’s shoes” or even see something from a client’s viewpoint because that is not my lived experience. However, I can focus on myself, the social worker making an ethical decision while concentrating on my ethical beliefs, which leads to truly being empathic and supportive.

Advocacy Inspired by Historical Voices

I am passionate about advancing human rights and eradicating social injustices. Reading King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail resonated with me. One of the most powerful statements in that letter is, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King’s profound words immediately reminded me of what I think of as a current civil rights issue: mass incarceration.

The Influence of “Just Mercy”

According to the Equal Justice Initiative’s website, “The United States incarcerates its citizens more than any other country. Mass incarceration disproportionately impacts the poor and people of color and does not make us safer.” Bryan Stevenson, attorney, founder of EJI, and author of Just Mercy, has saved one hundred twenty-five wrongfully convicted Americans from death row. Just Mercy, Stevenson’s TED Talk, and other various articles have inspired me to learn all I can about criminal justice reform and the blemish on society our prison and criminal court system has become. A colleague and I discuss Stevenson’s work over lunch whenever we can, and we have vowed to see him speak any time he is nearby. Reading Just Mercy actually reminded me of the court system in the small rural county I am from. Stevenson states, “America’s prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill.”

Addressing Injustice in Modern Courtrooms

Similarly, in November of last year, the Lexington Harold-Leader, reported a Circuit Court judge “ordered a 51-year-old man — poor, mentally ill, unable to read, with an extensive history of alcohol abuse — to act as his own defense lawyer.” These kinds of injustices go on significantly more than the general public realize. As a social worker, I aspire to speak out and make a change in our criminal justice system. Leading by King’s example and simply reminding others that injustices in our prisons and courtrooms are a threat to justice everywhere feels like a moral place to start.

References:

1. Abramson, M. (1996). The Social Worker as Moral Agent: Self-Esteem, Competence, and Ethical Decision Making. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 3(2), Article 6.
2. King, M. L., Jr. (1963). Letter from the Birmingham Jail.
3. Stevenson, B. (n.d.). Biography.
4. Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Spiegel & Grau.
5. Lexington Herald-Leader. (2018, November 10). Judge Orders Lexington Murder Suspect To Defend Himself In Court. Retrieved from

A Deep Dive into “Just Mercy”: Unveiling Injustice

Introduction to “Just Mercy” and Walter McMillian’s Case

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is a book all about the injustices that happen in our justice and criminal system today. It goes over the many cases of falsely accused people, but it focuses mainly on the case of Walter McMillian, who was wrongfully accused of murder and was sentenced to death sentence in the late 1980s in the state of Alabama.

Racial Bias and False Accusations

The story of Walter McMillian is similar to many wrongfully accused cases that had a racial bias towards it. Walter was a successful businessman in his neighborhood, but his whole reputation was tarnished because of an affair he had with a white woman, Karen Kelly. It turned the whole neighborhood around, and McMillian was not seen the same anymore. Coincidentally, in the same time frame, the unfortunate murder of Ronda Morrison was also shaking the city to its core. Ralph Meyers, a local white man who was involved with Karen Kelly, had accused Walter McMillian of the murder of Ronda Morrison. At the time, sadly, there were not many sheriff’s offices that were not racist, so this part is not different either from many other stories.

The Flawed Justice System and Stevenson’s Fight

The racist sheriff’s office obviously believed Ralph Meyer’s accusation of Walter McMillian and went on with the case as if Walter was truly the murderer without any notice of evidence of an investigation. They did everything in the name of against the law, such as bribed witness testimonies, and forced Myers to testify even though he did not want to in the latter. Walter was finally convicted of murder, and that left his wife and kids completely alone.

While he was waiting on death row, that is when he met Stevenson. Stevenson saw the sorrow and the injustice being made towards McMillian and his family in this case, ad he decided to take on the case. Years pass by, and Walter’s whole neighborhood shows Stevenson and Walter nothing but support, and they feel the pain as a whole community. Stevenson tries to go through a retrial and multiple appeals throughout the year as well, but Stevenson discovers much, much more than that. He discovers vile racism and corruption in the criminal justice system.

The heartbreaking case goes on and on, and as each day goes on, more evidence against law officials is found than against McMillian. In between crevices of the book, Stevenson also discusses other cases where the criminal justice system is serving everything but justice. Stevenson brings up many cases of juveniles getting sentenced to homicidal and nonhomicidal crimes. He goes deeper into the topic of juvenile sentencing and how juveniles are usually abused in the prison system. He makes multiple points where he defends juvenile offenders because of their past, such as abusive household history, mental difficulties, and horrible upbringings, things that affected them and their decisions at the time.

He speaks about the case of Marsha Colbey, who was known as a “killer mother,” but she was not the only one. “Killer Mothers” was a name given to many low-income and mentally disabled mothers in these areas. Basically, throughout the whole entire book, Stevenson goes through many cases of racially discriminating cases in the criminal justice system. He shows us the true colors of what it truly looks like behind the scenes.

Biblical Perspective and Final Justice

If one looks at the case of Walter McMillian from a biblical point of view, it truly is unjust and not what Jesus would want in anyone’s path. Bible passage; Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” explains that He has created all of us equally and in the image of him. Inequality is unacceptable in His eyes because we are all in the imagery of Him and also made by Him, so very clearly, the treatment that McMillian had gotten just because of his skin color was sinful in itself.

The truth behind cases such as Walter McMillian still is very hidden to this day. A lot of false and accusatory statements are going around putting innocent people behind bars just because of the way that He has created them, their skin color. As many years ago as this case was, inequality and injustice still lie in courtrooms today and are not really seen by the naked eye unless someone looks deeply enough.
At the end of the case, Walter McMillian was finally released after serving six years on death row. Love, support, celebration, and cheers were run, really, throughout the whole country. It was truly one of the most well-known cases with these circumstances at the time.

Walter McMillian ended with justice being served, but it started with injustice flooding minds and hearts over the country. In a world where God’s truth was taken seriously, cases like this would not exist, and innocent people like McMillian would not have to be separated from their families in the first place.

References:

1. Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.

Insights from “Just Mercy”: Navigating Injustice and Discovering Humanity

“Just Mercy”: A Glimpse into Injustice

Just Mercy is a story written by Bryan Stevenson from a personal experience where he speaks more about justice, mercy, and empathy. In the entire story, he claims that the rate of injustices has increased and that people are being sentenced to death and life imprisonment for wrongly accused crimes.

The writer goes ahead to state that every individual, or rather every society, must be able to always pick empathy and mercy over blames and castigation or rather punishment. Bryan was born to an impoverished black family, and thus he witnessed a lot of things in the society and community that, in his way of viewing, they were wrongly done. In his line of duty or even outside it, Stevenson worked tirelessly to help the marginalized people in the community. He says that the justice system for criminals is very unfair, and he works towards improving it and helping those who may have fallen into the hands of the system unfairly.

Bryan’s Journey of Offering Aid

According to his story, the writer has helped juveniles, low-income women, and also men who he feels were accused wrongly. It is after so doing that he feels it has changed his way of understanding some aspects and virtues in life like mercy, hope, kindness, and most of all and much significant the issue of justice. The writer points out different scenarios or rather cases that he had to intervene to help those involved. He goes ahead to quote that the poor people and minorities are the most affected in society by the corrupt, unfair, and injustice systems.

Chapter Insights: “Uncried Tears” and Trina’s Story

In chapter 8 of Just Mercy, Bryan begins with a poem called “Uncried Tears,” which is written by one of the inmates he encountered. The poem talks about a fight between suppressed tears and bitter conscience where the tears are even begging to be let free, but the conscience is quick to answer that if they are let free, then they will end up dead. In the same chapter, the author talks about a young person by the name of Trina, who was raised in a family that knew no justice and rights. Trina’s father is said to have been abusing his wife physically by beating her and even his children, and this led to Trina’s psychiatric problems.

When her mum died, she could not afford psychiatric services, and thus her condition worsened. One thing led to another, and she found herself in court, and no one dared produce a letter to indicate the little girl had some mental illness, and thus, she was charged with murder. What surprises me most is that she was not sent to juvenile but was held in the women’s prison, where she got raped by the guard, leaving her pregnant. Her cry had no one to listen to it, and thus the guard was just chased away, but Trina got no justice as not even a single compensation was given to her. The theme of male violence is strongly brought out by the author of Trina’s story and also shows the issue of poverty and vulnerability without any protection and assistance from justice.

Themes of Poverty and Racial Inequalities in Justice

Stevenson clearly states that when children are homeless and affected by poverty, then they are at risk of committing various juvenile crimes, as these three things are related or somewhat connected as he tells us. The theme of poverty is also brought out when the selected or appointed lawyer for Trina is not able to protect her by even providing the relevant letter from the hospital (Hanink 24). This shows a lack of enough resources to even hire or acquire qualified counsel.

In the past, youths were not easily accused of crimes except black youths. In a story told by the author about George, a 14-year-old boy who was accused of murder. He was charged after informing the locals who were searching for two white girls that he had seen them picking flowers, and they were found dead. In the court of law where no black man was allowed in, the sheriff said that George was the last one to see the two girls and that he had confessed to the murder and therefore charged with it.

This story shows the issue of racial inequalities in the criminal justice system. Bryan says that George’s story clearly illustrates how vulnerable black people are in the hands of whites. This man was accused because of his willingness to help, his honesty, and probably the fact that he was a black person.

In his stories, Bryan Stevenson shows how the legal criminal justice systems, which are supposed to be helping the people in America, be at the forefront in offering justice and be able to act fairly and offer required justice, have been used to extremely oppress the marginalized people in the societies. The author tries to analyze many of his various clients’ cases to show the problems, weaknesses, and failures in the criminal justice system. He thinks that every individual has a part to play in making the system right as it is directly reflected in the values and society as a whole.

References:

1. Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy. Spiegel & Grau.

Racial Inequality and Police Brutality in “Just Mercy” and “All American Boys”

Pervasive Police Injustice:

After reading Just Mercy and All American Boys, I was astonished by the controversial topics I had read in each book. They discussed topics such as racial injustice and police brutality, which have been argued about for years. At first, I thought I understood these topics and how they affect people, but reading about them gave me a larger perspective on them. Just Mercy follows a young attorney named Bryan Stevenson, who shoulders the weight of many difficult cases. His cases have ranged from life imprisonment of children to an innocent colored man on death row.

This historical nonfiction gave me a new perspective on an old, broken law system that was used less than 50 years ago by the U.S. Next. All American Boys is a fiction trailing an African American teen named Rashad, who was wrongly accused of stealing and brutally beaten by a police officer. Reading this book showed me how upsetting police brutality is. Both books showed me how police and racial injustice can affect people on a large scale. These two books have shared valuable information with me. They have shown me what is alike and different about them, and they have opened my eyes to how our world is today.

Racial Injustice: A Lingering Scar:

Throughout these books, I have noticed that they both share a lot about police injustice. In Just Mercy, a woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered at a store. Nobody, including the police, knew who murdered Ronda. Soon, people started to get angry and blame the police for not catching the criminal. To please the angered public, the police arrested an innocent African American man named Walter and claimed he murdered Ronda. Though in reality, Walter was at a fish fry during the time and day of the murder. Later, Walter was sent to Alabama’s death row, awaiting execution.

The police bribed and threatened many people to lie in court, making a false story about what happened the day of the murder to keep Walter on death row. As well as in Just Mercy, All American Boys also had their fair share of police injustice. At the beginning of the book, a white police officer named Paul beats an African American teenager named Rashad brutally on the sidewalk outside of a store named Jerry’s. Rashad was sent to the hospital immediately, which caused conflict between people. Paul later claimed that Rashad had been caught stealing and resisted arrest. He said he was just doing his job, and that caused controversy for many people. Both books shared examples of police injustice and how it affected people. Following police injustice was something that is still upsetting today.

Apart from police injustice, both books shared a lot about racial injustice and how colored people were often mistreated based on their looks. In All American Boys, after Rashad was beaten and sent to the hospital, his brother Spoony arrived the next day to see if his younger brother was all right. After hearing Rashad’s side of the story, Spoony was outraged, saying that this happens all the time and nobody bothers to stop it.

Later, Rashad explains to the readers why Spoony was so angry, saying, “He was always a suspect. And I knew, without him saying a word, that the one thing he never wanted, but was sure to eventually happen, was for his little brother-the ROTC art kid-to become one too”. Both Spoony and Rashad are people of color, and for Spoony’s whole life, the way he looked affected the way that people viewed him. Spoony had always been a suspect to everyone, and he didn’t want his brother to become one too.

Similar to All American Boys, Just Mercy showed how racist thoughts clouded the minds of many people. At the beginning of the book, when Stevenson first reviewed Walter’s case, he does not agree with why Walter was put on death row, and he shares his thoughts about his case with the readers stating, “But there was no evidence against McMillian-no evidence except that he was an African American man involved in an adulterous interracial affair, which meant he was reckless and possibly dangerous, even if he had no prior criminal history and a good reputation.

Maybe that was evidence enough”. The only evidence that the public used to condemn Walter was from an “affair” he had with a white woman named Karen Kelly. What also added to that corrupt mage was the lies that the police had told people about Walter. They claimed he was in a gang and was also a Drug kingpin, which scared many people. Both books seemed to have much to talk about concerning police injustice and how it can affect people in the long run. Now, we start to see more about how books are different from each other.

Differing Focuses in Both Narratives:

Apart from both books sharing similarities, they also have many differences, such as which the book focuses more on. In Just Mercy, apart from Walters’s case, there were also many cases that mentioned children being prosecuted as adults either for mistakes, petty crimes, or being framed. Many of these cases Stevenson explained to the readers really put into perspective how broken the U.S. law system was not that long ago.

Stevenson explains how many kids have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, saying that “Our litigation strategy was complicated by the fact that more than 2,500 children in the United States had been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole”. That many kids sentenced to life imprisonment without parole is a ridiculously high number of kids prosecuted in the U.S. It is sad to hear that so many children had their lives thrown away by having to spend the rest of their lives in an adult prison, feeling utterly scared and alone.

In All American Boys, instead of focusing on imprisoned children, the book focuses more on colored people who had their lives taken away by police brutality. Nearing the end of the book, Rashad, accompanied by friends and family, formed a protest against police brutality. They started a march at Jerry’s and ended the march with a die-in at the front doors of the police department. During the die-in, Spoony’s girlfriend Berry starts a roll call, calling the names of the unarmed colored people who had been killed by police.

After each name was called, the crowd responded by saying, “Absent again today.” When Berry did her roll call, the names on her list were names of people who had died of a gunshot fired by a police officer. Each of those names mentioned in the roll call scene were actual people who had lives of their own. They had lived lives similar to you and me, but theirs ended with a gunshot fired by a police officer who didn’t understand that they weren’t doing anything wrong.

Relevance in Today’s World:

As well as in All American Boys and Just Mercy, our world today shares many controversies regarding race and police brutality similar to the books. An example of both police brutality and racial discrimination shown in both books is an incident that happened near the beginning of 2018. NBA African American player Sterling Brown was tased and arrested on an early morning errand at a drugstore on January 26. He walked out of the drugstore to an awaiting white police officer standing outside of his car.

The officer then started to question him and called back up to the scene. Soon, Brown was surrounded and pushed to the ground, only to be tasered and handcuffed for a mere parking violation. This shows how the police can be to people of color and how they can act poorly in a situation that does not require any sense of brutality. This incident is similar to both books regarding the fact that in each book, the police acted poorly in a tight situation, and they took drastic measures because the victim was a person of color. This goes to show just how sad people’s judgment can be.

After reading both books, my eyes have been opened to many conflicts and struggles that people face today. Comparing both books, they have many similarities and differences, but they are more similar than different. They both share police injustice, racial injustice, and the struggles of being someone of color. They also have differences in what the book is focused on as well. Just Mercy focused on life-imprisoned children, whereas All American Boys focused on how people of color were perceived. These books have shown me many valuable truths about what is wrong with our world today, and I learned many things from both of them.

References:

1. Bell, K. (2018, May 25). Sterling Brown arrest: Milwaukee Police release body-cam video. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/24/us/milwaukee-police-sterling-brown-video/index.html
2. Reynolds, J., & Kiely, B. (2015). All American Boys. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books.
3. Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy. Spiegel & Grau.