Jailine Zavala

Dr. Maura M. Tarnoff

English 1A

October 2018

Rhetorical Analysis: Just Mercy

Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson

actively seeks justice for those who the criminal justice system often fails. He does this through

his free legal assistance services for the incarcerated poor and writings that shed light on the

issue. In his book, “Just Mercy,” Stevenson brings awareness to the fact that the criminal justice

system in America is biased, and blatantly favors wealthy individuals. By addressing this issue,

he persuades his audience that urgent change is needed to end such vast inequalities, making a

call for action for his readers to fix the broken criminal justice system in this country. Through

his use of rhetorical techniques, Stevenson is able to strengthen his compelling argument, which

inspires his audience to develop a passion for the inequities he presents, thus moving his

audience to join his fight towards a more humane criminal justice system in America.

Throughout the book, Stevenson describes the case of Walter McMillian, an African man

who is wrongfully convicted for the murder of a white woman and sentenced to death. When

describing Walter, Stevenson states, “The more time I spent with Walter, the more I was

persuaded that he was a kind, decent man with a generous nature. He freely acknowledged that

he’d made poor decisions, particularly where women were concerned. By all accounts-- from

friends, family and associates like Sam Crook-- Walter generally tried to do the right thing”

(Stevenson 104). In this statement, Stevenson achieves various applications of ethos. Through

this description of Walter, Stevenson is able to humanize him and highlight an important issue;
as a society, we often perceive those deemed criminals solely as inmates rather than as people

with complex lives and genuine personalities. We fail to acknowledge that the incarcerated

population is human too and that they have loved ones just like the rest of us. In addition to

persuading us of Walter’s good character, Stevenson establishes his own authority. In the quote,

he states that he has spent a plentiful amount of time with Walter. He claims to know Walter

well, increasing the validity of his statements about him. He establishes that he isn't only

knowledgeable in a professional manner within his field of study, but also in a personal manner

about his clients. Another instance of ethos can be seen in this quote when Stevenson

acknowledges that Walter comprehends his own wrong-doings. He explains that Walter openly

admits to mistakes such as being unfaithful to his wife. Calling attention to both the positives and

the negatives works to establish ethos by eliminating the idea that the author is biased. The

reader could have been led to believe that Stevenson only spoke highly of Walter because it

worked in his favor or because he had developed a genuinely friendly relationship with him.

However, this statement serves to confirm that Stevenson is able to see multiple sides to a

situation. He reveals an understanding of the ambiguity of both his clients and the criminal

justice system at large. Similarly, the statement suggests that Walter’s claim of innocence is

honest because he is willing to put himself under negative light. His willingness to do so reveals

that he isn’t lying to portray his innocence, instead, he is open to depict accurate events even

when they work against him. This is one of the many examples of ethos that can be traced in Just

Mercy. Stevenson makes an appeal to character because if the reader has a more positive concept

of Walter’s persona, an established sense of Stevenson's authority, and an unbiased

understanding of the situation, the reader is more likely to be persuaded by Stevenson’s claim or

more likely to take action. In this manner, the reader is able to develop a clear understanding of
the situation, thus the reader to feel empathy towards those who are innocently convicted. With

this newly developed empathy, the reader is capable of adopting the authentic passion and care

towards the inequities within the criminal justice system that Stevenson clearly possesses.

Another way in which Stevenson sheds light on the broken criminal justice system in the

United States and makes a call for action is through the stories of its victims. These stories ignite

a sense of compassion in the reader, compelling the reader to do something to change the

prejudiced system we live with. He emphasizes the way in which the system is consistently

biased against the underprivileged, most commonly black men. Through his use of doxa as a

tool, Stevenson highlights the way in which the same system can differ so vastly from one group

of people to the other. He uses the example of the shared cultural value of religion or faith.

Throughout his writing, Stevenson occasionally mentions the church. One example of this can be

seen when he states, “It was the kind of wordless testimony of struggle and anguish I heard all

the time growing up in a small rural black church” (Stevenson 92). Although, his references to

the church may appear of little significance at first glance, they reveal information of valuable

support to Stevenson’s point upon further analysis. The reader is able to make the connection

that similar to the criminal justice system, religion serves an immensely different purpose in the

lives of the privileged when compared to the lives of the underprivileged. Often times, through a

privileged perspective, religion is viewed as tool to demonstrate gratefulness or a set of ideas to

live by. On the other hand, through an underprivileged perspective, religion can be utilized as a

coping mechanism for the injustices one must endure or a method with which to hold on to hope

that life will get better. One can go as far as to say that both religion and the criminal justice

system can be used to control or even manipulate the underprivileged population in America.

While African Americans are disproportionately incarcerated, it can almost be said that the sense
of hope that religion provides its members keeps the oppressed away from speaking and acting

out against injustices. This idea can explain why many churches are racially separated. If religion

served the same purpose across all backgrounds and experiences, then there would be no reason

for there to be such a racial separation within a religion. In his statement, Stevenson labels his

church as a black church rather than a church of the specific religion to which it belongs. This

demonstrates the power that their black identity holds in the church; it might hold even more

power than the religion itself. Similarly, the black identity of an individual on trial can be given

more emphasis than the crime they are being accused of. It becomes clear that similar to the way

in which the criminal justice system favors and protects the privileged while it often violates the

rights of the underprivileged, religious practices can be very pleasant experiences for the

privileged while they can be a cry for mercy for the underprivileged. Stevenson shows the

readers how race can shape individual's experiences within institutions and systems. By

illustrating the shared cultural value of religion, Stevenson is able to highlight injustices within

the criminal justice system and society at large. In this way, he is able to appeal towards the

audience who experiences the more pleasurable end of religion and the criminal justice system,

as well as to the audience members who experience the less pleasant end of religion and the

criminal justice system. Therefore, a broader audience, from diverse backgrounds is likely to feel

an urge to fight for change.

Another powerful technique that Stevenson utilizes to move his audience to desire change

in the broken criminal justice system is shifts in diction. For example, in the Chapter Broken, he

makes a meaningful shift from making “I” statements to “we” statements. While other

techniques serve to shed light on and bring awareness to issues within our criminal justice

system, this technique is a part of Stevenson’s greater goal to make a plea for action to actively
work towards fixing such issues. Throughout his book, he describes the brokenness of his clients

and the system. However, in a passage within this chapter, he connects their brokenness to his

own brokenness. He determines that the his own brokenness is what motivates him to do the kind

of work he does everyday. While making these descriptions on his own brokenness and

motivation, he uses the word “I.” It is clear that his daily duties are exhausting, but he feels as

though they necessary. He then proceeds to change his use of “I” with “we” in his descriptive

statements. Stevenson pulls his audience in and show that we, as his readers, are broken too. This

can be seen in the sentences:

I do what I do because I’m broken too. My years of struggling against inequality,

abusive power, poverty, oppression, and injustice had finally revealed something to me

about myself. Being close to suffering , death, executions, and cruel punishments didn’t

just illuminate the brokenness of others; in a moment of anguish and heartbreak, it also

exposed my own brokenness. You can’t effectively fight abusive power, poverty,

inequality, illness, oppression, or injustice and not be broken by it. We are all broken by

something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt.We all share the condition of

brokeness even if our brokenness is not equivalent (Stevenson 289).

This makes a strong implication that that if we experience the same brokenness that inspires him

to actively work towards justice in the system, then we should also feel compelled to actively

work towards justice in the system. With this, the reader cannot help but feel some sort of moral

obligation to join Stevenson on his journey towards genuine humanity in the criminal justice

system. Ultimately, Stevenson is pleading for his audience to actively work towards bringing

true justice to the criminal justice system in the United States. Stevenson appeals to ethos,
attends to doxa, and uses diction shifts to actively help his readers feel close to the issue, making

them perceive it as a personal matter rather than a distant issue.

Works Cited

Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. First edition. New York:

Spiegel & Grau, 2014.