A few years ago, I attend the Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit, where I heard Bryan Stevenson speak. The address was captivating. Stevenson spoke of representing the wrongly accused and the wrongly convicted. He told of advocating for juveniles who were incarcerated with adults and who were sexually abused as a result. He urged the audience to get a little closer to the criminal justice system, and to look a little more carefully at it. Now Stevenson has written a book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Among many other awards, it was named a best book of the year by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time magazine. I thought it was good, but not great. Stevenson. Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama nonprofit “that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.” He’s extraordinarily accomplished, having received a MacArthur “genius” grant; won relief in more than 100 capital cases; and argued several times before the Supreme Court, including in Miller v. Alabama, in which the Court forbade mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles. The book in brief. The book chronicles Stevenson’s professional life, beginning with his first meeting with a death row inmate as a 23-year-old law student doing an internship. It follows several cases in detail, including the case of Walter McMillian, an Alabama man condemned to death for a murder he [...]
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