Just Mercy-A Legacy of Injustice 1

Just Mercy- A Legacy of Injustice

Diane Gonzalez

Pacific Oaks College

HD-361 Social and Political Contexts of Human Development

Professor Debra A. Postil, J.D.

June 27, 2017

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The topic of class, race and socioeconomic status are issues that have a huge impact on

our daily lives. The choices individuals make every day are directly or indirectly, influenced by

these issues. When talking about the criminal justice system these issues are so influential, that

at times, it determines whether a person lives or dies. In this paper, I will introduce Bryan

Stevenson, a public interest lawyer that has dedicated his life to helping individuals who have

been victimized by the criminal justice system because of their class, race, and/or socioeconomic

status. Then, I will share how these issues pertain to matters we have discussed in class. Last, I

will elaborate my thoughts on this topic as they relate to the criminal justice system.

Bryan Stevenson is the author of the book “Just Mercy.” In this book, Stevenson recounts

stories of individuals he has represented throughout his career as a public defense lawyer. He is

also the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) based in

Montgomery, Alabama. The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) “provides legal representation to

prisoners who have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective

representation, and others who may have been denied a fair trial” (EJI.org). Stevenson also

works at New York University School of Law and travels around the world speaking out and

educating people about the biases against poor and minorities groups in the criminal justice

system.

In a video we watched in class Stevenson points out some surprising statistics about the

criminal justice system. He claims the American “justice system has been corrupted by this rush

to be tough, and punitive…(he continues to state) 2.3 million people (in the United States) are in

prison…the US holds 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s imprisoned (and) …1

in 3 black male babies will be imprisoned in 21st century (and) 1 out of 3 of black men between

the ages of 18-23 are in prison, probation, or patrol” (youtube.com). Listening to these statistics
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makes one wonder what is happening to our youth in the United States? To answer this question

one may bring up many different factors that could be the result of this mass incarceration in the

United States.

One factor may be that our country has created a history of disconnect between the rich

and poor. A common phrase we often hear is “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” For

me, the interpretation of this phrase is that while we continue to elect politicians who are white,

rich, and male and allow them to make choices for our country, that affect us all, we will

continue to build disparity in poor communities. That is because they continue to cut programs

that people in poor communities rely on and create agendas that financially benefit them; like the

situation in Louisiana where young, poor black and brown men and women are left in hopeless

circumstances.

Louisiana’s public defender’s office is facing a class action lawsuit because of its failure

to provide inmates with proper legal representation. Due to major state budget cuts, the public

defender’s office is unable to hire investigators and contract attorneys to cover the overload of

cases they face. The state of Louisiana leads the country in incarceration rates (Zanolli, 2016)

and as these cuts continue to happen thousands of young, poor minorities are stuck in jail for

months without any legal representation. For situations like this to stop we must educate

yourselves about the people we put into public office and vote.

That brings me to the next factor that may affect mass incarceration in the US, which is

the right to vote. In the United States individuals with a felony arrest, are not welcomed in

polling places. That leaves more than 5.85 million adults without this “right” (McLaughlin,

2012). This issue affects African Americans the hardest, “7 percent of blacks are

disenfranchised compared to 1.8 percent of the rest of the country” (McLaughlin, 2012). In
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Virginia and Florida, critical states in the presidential election, over 20% of blacks cannot vote

and in Alabama 34% of blacks lost the right to vote (Stevenson, 2012). These statistics question

the right of democracy. When rich, white, male landowners gave themselves the right to vote at

the beginning of our country’s existence, they excluded women, poor people, African Americans

and people with felonies (McLaughlin, 2012). Over 200 years later, the only group still excluded

from voting are people with felonies. I think as individuals pay their debt to society and get their

lives back on track, that right should be restored to them, if they so choose. In order for this

trend to change, we must educate our youth, encourage them to vote, and keep them out of jails.

Another issue that may be affecting mass incarceration in the United States is youth

confinement. It takes about $109,000 in some states to lock up a child for a year without any

guarantee that child will not return (Foss, 2016). Many children behind bars are entering

correctional facilities for non-violent crimes, like truancy and absenteeism. In jail, children often

become victims of sexual and physical abuse, adding to trauma they have experienced in their

home environment, and as a result, may lead to further bad choices down the road.

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) has documented 70 cases throughout the United States

in which children 14 and younger have been condemned to die in prison, often without

consideration of the child’s age or life history” (EJI.org). In 2009, Bryan Stevenson argued at

the United States Supreme Court that sentencing young teens to die in prison is cruel and unusual

punishment. As a result, in 2010 the Supreme Court reversed life-without-parole sentences for

children convicted of nonhomicide offenses.

In class, we were introduced to the Adverse Childhood Experience questionnaire (ACE).

This questionnaire was first presented in 1985, by Dr. Vincent Felitti’s obesity clinic at Kaiser in

California. Later in the mid 90’s, he joined with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
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to study the possible link between childhood trauma and some of the leading causes of death

like, heart disease and lung cancer. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains repeated stress of

physical and/or emotional abuse, neglect, mental illness, and substance abuse increase ACE

scores and as a result increase the chances of poor physical health in adults.

I agree when Bryan Stevenson says that, “we have created a legacy of abuse, trauma,

segregation, injustice, inequality in the United States” (Stevenson, 2012). Since the beginning of

our nation, we have created a mindset where white skin is better and dark skin is somehow lesser

because they say so. The reluctance to challenge this mindset for fear of retaliation or judgement

continues to hold us down and as a result, our people continue to struggle and face injustice.

Stevenson advocates for us to create a power of narrative. To me this means, we must commit

ourselves to the injustice by giving a voice to the trauma. We do this by going to school and

learning about the injustice, sharing our knowledge with others and making sure our youth stay

in school to avoid the jail system. We can work together as a community; citizens, police, and

prosecutors working together to solve problems and create solutions to reduce crime and create a

better community for our families. Like Stevenson says, the more we get closer to the things that

move us and we care about, we become better human beings, and create hope for a better

tomorrow.
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References:

Stevenson, Bryan. (2014). Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. New York: Spiegal

Grau

TEDTalks.com. Stevenson, Bryan. (2012). Retrieved from www.ted.com

Johnson, Allan G. (2001). Privilege, power, and Difference. Mountain View, CA

Mayfield Publishing Company

EJI.org. (2017). Retrieved from https://eji.org

Zanolli, Lauren. (2016). Retrieved from http://news.vice.com. Louisiana’s Public Defender

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Crisis Is Leaving Thousands Stuck in Jail With No Legal Help.

McLaughlin, Michael. (2012). Retrieved from m.huffpost.com. Felon Voting Laws

Disenfranchise 5.85 Million Americans With Criminal Records: The Sentencing Project

Harris, Nadine Burke. (2014). Retrieved from www.youtube.com. How Childhood Trauma

Affects health across a lifetime.

Foss, Adam. (2016). Retrieved from www.youtube.com. A prosecutor’s vision for a better

Justice system.