Throughout American history, innocent individuals have been wrongfully prosecuted, and have been sentenced to death. In Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, he showed various aspects of other’s perspectives and their situations. The different viewpoints of each family goes to show the two common issues, racial inequality and the injustice of the justice system. In the book, Stevenson dives deep into his relationship with Walter “Johnny D” McMillian and how he was innocent when he was given the death sentence. While reading the book, your viewpoints on racial inequality may change, and how individuals don’t get justice when it comes to the death penalty regardless of race. While some accept the idea of the death penalty, it should be abolished due …show more content…
According to Death Penalty Information, “International human rights law has long prohibited the use of the death penalty against people who were younger than age 18 at the time of the offense.” Reading this, and knowing Charlie's situation, would this change someone's mind about who is for the death penalty? Throughout the entirety of the book, Stevenson gives the readers the idea of racism in the south, social status of the family, and how people’s minds are working and the disorders they may have. Stevenson really illustrates this when he brings up the topic of Herbert Richardson, who was a war veteran, and sentenced to death for killing an 11-year-old girl. While Richardson didn’t intentionally kill the girl, he was still punished with death. Does this seem right to you? Yes, he killed an innocent child, but, there was no intent on this. This is where the death penalty goes wrong. The government won’t always give death to someone who intentionally kills someone, but a war vet who has been deeply traumatized, unintentionally kills someone, is sentenced to death. Where do we draw the line? Even though the death penalty has been abolished, there are many people who still want
In Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercy, it talks about the United States’ broken system of justice. In it, it captures an event where a 14-year-old South Central resident, Antonio, received imprisonment until death for a crime where no one was physically injured. The court ruled Antonio was a danger to society who will not be able to rehabilitate, sentencing him the be imprisoned until death, dismissing the lack of significant criminal history and his difficult background living in a lower socioeconomic area. This an example of the super predator theory in use at court. The theory states that young children who commit serious crimes are to be sentenced for life since they’re unable to become sane. Prison is not a place designed for rehabilitation,
Like a multitude of other movies that are constructed from literary works, there are an abundance of disparities between the book and the movie adaptation, Just Mercy is simply another addition to the collection. Nonetheless, both the book and the movie center around the captivating narrative of Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer whose pursuit of justice is like no other. Both the written narrative and its cinematic inspiration capture Bryan Stevenson’s journey through his battles with the biased criminal justice system. The tragic and cruel death of an innocent inmate, the overarching theme of seeking redemption and righteous retribution, and the setting will be displayed throughout the essay as similarities. The number of characters discussed and
Love, A. David. “The Racial Bias of the Us Death Penalty.” The Guardian: January 3, 2012.
Racism Review: Scholarship and activism toward racial justice. (2010). Race and the Death Penatly 2: Black defendants, White Victims . Retrieved from Racism Review: Scholarship and activism toward racial justice : http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2010/04/17/race-and-the-death-penalty-ii-black-defendants-white-victims/
Furthermore, Bryan Stevenson has fought many of these cases personally, bringing many of them to the Supreme Court. Perhaps his most impactful case that he won was the case of McMillian vs Alabama, which has been made into a book and a movie, Just Mercy. The story follows an innocent black man, Walter McMillian, who was wrongfully accused of a crime and put on death row because of the color of his skin, According to Nigel Smith, Just Mercy follows the story of freeing Walter McMillian, a wrongfully convicted black man from Alabama who was sentenced to death for murdering a white woman, despite 6 black witnesses who testified he didn’t do it (Nigel Smith). This quote proves that people are fine to accuse people of something they didn’t do, just because of something like bias or racism. This type of injustice sparks a response from Bryan Stevenson, who strives to rid our justice system of this type of bias.
Capital punishment is biased not only this way but also racially. The color of the skin of the accused and victim alike decides whether the death penalty wi...
Meghan McDonald Engaging Differences Film Review Film Review: Just Mercy The film I chose for this assignment is Just Mercy, a movie from 2019 that was originally a book published by Bryan Stevenson in 2014. I had to read this book for a class in high school and enjoyed it so much that I decided to watch the film as well. The reason I chose this movie to review is because I believe that it greatly expresses multiple problems that today our society faces, such as racism and having a corrupt justice system. In summary, this film is about an African American lawyer who fights to prove a man's innocence who is currently on death row, because of this he is faced with many hardships and battles. In my opinion, this film angered me at the fact that all these African American men were being falsely accused of crimes that they did not
In an interview with Death Penalty Information Center, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. said, “Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.” Imagining about death can brings terror to anyone. Knowing someone will die hurts more than someone dying instantly. Death Penalty does not allow murderer to to feel guilt for their committed brutal crime. In every case, there is always a small percentage of chance that victim might be innocent. The death penalty should not be legal in any case because of its inhumanity, easy way out for murderer,
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson flawlessly captures the reality of a common, yet somewhat unknown theme in today’s justice system, injustice. While reading this memoir, I was extremely inspired by Stevenson’s devotion to fighting for justice for his clients. In particular, the heart wrenching story of the young black man, Walter McMillan, made a lasting impression on me and my ideas of justice and mercy. I learned that we all must learn to have compassion and warmth in a world that can be so cold. Stevenson states, “We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer
The death penalty ensures fair retribution for the loved ones of the criminal’s victim. In 1977, Clarence Ray Allen was convicted for murder after arranging the death of a witness against him in a burglary case and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 1980, Allen organized the killings of the witnesses who had worked against him in his previous conviction. Finally, Allen was sentenced to death, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he was executed (Ardaiz). During those twenty-six painful years, the families and loved ones of the victims had to spend their days knowing that the one who had torn apart their family was still alive. As James A. Ardaiz, a former judge, and the prosecutor on the case of Allen, so succinctly put it, “Retribution is not only a need of society; it is a right of those victimized.” One person who the death penalty brought peace to was John Rizzotti. Rizzotti’s 78 year old great grandmother was sexually abused and murdered in1980 by Manuel Babbitt, and Rizzotti says that his family found relief in Babbitt’s execution in 1999. Rizzotti recounts that the legal process from conviction to execution was frustrating, but he believes that the families of murder victims have the right to see the murderers put to death. “What he did and how he did it was so unbelievably gruesome that there w...
When first considering arguments against the death penalty, one must first understand the basis of thinking for those who may demand this sort of justice. Immoral actions, for example, illustrate an individual’s ability to act inhuman. Families of the lost loved ones and victims of crimes, for example, feel as though death inflicted upon the guilty party will not heal them from the sorrow and sense of loss they feel. However, because another life may be taken, the death penalty can possibly cause a victim’s family to suffer even more because they feel responsible for the accused criminal’s life as well (Pinker).
The death penalty is not a good solution to crime. The ultimate purpose of the justice system is to control crime by punishing criminals and protect people by imprisoning them. Compared to the death penalty, life imprisonment not only achieves the same goals but also in many ways it can be more effective than capital punishment. In the Vincent Brothers’ case of 2004, Brothers murdered five of his family members- his wife, children, and mother in law. During his trial, his only surviving daughter Margaret Kerns-Brothers gave a heart-wrenching testimony about how the moment she walks out of this courtroom, she would be resigning from the Brothers’ family. In her eyes, her biological father was only a man handcuffed to a chair. Brothers should have to live the rest of his life with his daughter’s words forever cut into his heart. This punishment is emotionally and mentally far worse than the death penalty. There are many other reasons why death penalty is shown to not be a good solution to crime. One of the problems is racial disparity. Jason Kotowski’s article in The (CA) Bakersfield California reports that, “Some thought Brothers was getting what he deserved (death sentence), while others argued that the jury was racially biased and Brothers didn’t receive a fair trial.” Many people believe that the death penalty is handed out unfairly to minorities. Statistics claim that African Americans make up only 13% of the US population, but nearly 50% ofthe people currently on death row are African American. There are many reported cases that African Americans were mistakenly put onto the death row largely based on their race. Many years later, new scientific evidence exonerated them but the...
Walter McMillian was a black man, who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman in Alabama in 1886. His trial, which only lasted a day and a half, was damaged by testimonies against him that later were found to be false. He was found innocent after a new investigation and became one of the first people to be exonerated. Walter McMillian later was quoted saying “Justice is forever shattered when we kill an innocent man” (Walter McMillian was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit., n.d.). This case shows the major ethical concern for capital punishment, mainly the irreversible damage it can cause to those who have been wrongfully
Art has superseded itself time and time over again. The renaissance in the 16th century produced some of the most famous artworks globally known; the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, even the Sistine Chapel ceiling art by Michelangelo. Following this rebirth of art came the Baroque Era. This era took the general form of Renaissance art and made it far more voluminous in drama, even bringing to light some aspects of the Catholic Church. The Baroque Era emphasized contrast between the vivid and the obscure to create a heavily charged emotional scene.
Mercy is a word that is often overused and inaccurately referenced. We hear faint echoes of Uncle Jesse saying "have mercy" or some executioner stating that God may have mercy on your soul. But I do not think that these are the connotations that we should have with this precious powerful word. The general or average North American English speaker would agree that the word mercy would encompass compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one 's power to punish or harm. I would like to address 7 topics in which we should incorporate more mercy; and if done so we would have stronger more meaningful relationships. These ten topics are: sharing interests, spending time, communication, listening, knowing needs, being loving, and whole heartedly committing.