Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson)

In Just Mercy, attorney Bryan Stevenson recounts his work with the foundation he started- the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI).  His story focuses on Walter McMillian, an innocent person wrongly convicted of murder and put on death row.  Interspersed with Walter's story are tales of other unfortunate situations- wrongful imprisonments, outrageously harsh sentences, racial injustice, and more.  Stevenson started EJI to deal with things like this.  In his own words (recounted from a conversation with Rosa Parks):

. . . we're trying to help people on death row.  We're trying to stop the death penalty, actually.  We're trying to do something about prison conditions and excessive punishment.  We want to free people who have been wrongly convicted.  We want to end unfair sentences in criminal cases and stop racial bias in criminal justice.  We're trying to help the poor and do something about indigent defense and the fact that people don't get the legal help they need.  We're trying to help people who are mentally ill.  We're trying to stop them from putting children in adult jails and prisons.  We're trying to do something about poverty and the hopelessness that dominates poor communities.  We want to see more diversity in decision-making roles in the justice system.  We're trying to educate people about racial history and the need for racial justice.  We're trying to confront abuse of power by police and prosecutors . . . 

As you'd expect, the entire book is valuable and poignant (it's shocking how little it can take to get some on death row or in prison for life).  The book summary (pages 289-94) is fantastic.  After relaying this heartbreaking stories, Stevenson shares why he does what he does, and why he fights for mercy over judgment.  The following are quotes, taken mostly from the summary, pasted together:

I do what I do because I'm broken, too . . . being broken is what makes us human.
Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion.
. . . simply punishing the broken- walking away from them or hiding them from sight- only ensures that they remain broken and we do, too.
In fact, there is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy.  When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise.
I didn't deserve reconciliation or love . . . but that's how mercy works.  The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving.  It's when mercy is least expected that it's most potent- strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victim hood, retribution and suffering.

Indeed, there is power in mercy.  What struck me most is that often the wrongly-convicted are the ones who show mercy to their captors and persecutors- shocking and humbling, and yet necessary for healing.

Rating: A