Bryan Stevenson: Champion of Racial Justice and Reform

Bryan Stevenson is a public-interest lawyer who has spent his life committed to help those in need – primarily focusing on mass incarceration, racial issues, death penalty, and child incarceration. Stevenson has won court cases for many clients whether they were children, mentally ill, or wrongly convicted – and has even battled cases in front of the United States Supreme Court. His most recent, and monumental, win was a ruling that life-without-parole is unconstitutional for children who are seventeen years old and younger. Stevenson is a professor Law at the New York University School of Law and also a public speaker who hopes to bring knowledge about racial inequalities, past and present, to communities everywhere (“EJI” 2016).

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They are not familiar with the courtroom or the language that is commonly used inside those four walls – this means that the people who are in charge of punishing defendants are often unable to fully comprehend the instructions that they are given (Smith & Haney 339). This can lead to instances where the defendants are given punishments that may be more severe (such as the death penalty) than they need to be (340). In a study done by Smith and Haney, it was shown that psycholinguistic techniques greatly improved jurors comprehension of the instructions that they were given dealing with the punishment of defendants in California (348). This shows that cognitive psychology plays a significant role in Bryan Stevenson’s work to create a more equal justice system in the United States.

Getting to ask Bryan Stevenson a question has potential to be overwhelming – he has a lifetime of experience that makes him a wealth of knowledge. After doing a little research for this paper, I am interested in knowing more about the comprehension of jurors – what has Stevenson personally viewed in his cases and in the courtroom? Does he think juror comprehension is an issue everywhere and not just