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The Injustice System: A History of Desperation and Negligence

The book ​Just Mercy​ written by Bryan Stevenson explores issues of desperation and

negligence within a fractured American Justice System during the 20th century, through a series

of “criminal” cases and personal accounts from people of color. Bryan Stevenson is a public

interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping individuals in marginalized communities

that are facing legal matters, or are unable to be properly represented in a court of law. Stevenson

wrote this book to serve as a memoir, providing a historical window to his audience, allowing

them to get a second-hand experience of the rampant maltreatment people of color were

continuously experiencing. While Stevenson did not explicitly state who the targeted audience

for his book was, one might suggest that it was meant for the very members of the communities

that were affected by the fractured system. This book stands as a historical marker by detailing

past events, highlighting the pain and suffering of affected individuals, while also showing how

far we have come as a society to strive for a more equal and just society. This paper also includes

insight as to how the African American community may respond or acknowledge these particular

cases, allowing for a better understanding of how these events have impacted the minority

perception of law, justice, and other American institutions.

One thing that this book does well, is tugging on the heartstrings of those who read it.

While all the chapters appeal to the readers an emotion, there is one specific chapter that does so

the most: chapter 8. Chapter 8 follows the personal lives of three young children – Trina Garrett,

Ian Manuel, and Antonio Nuñez – and provides detailed accounts of their journeys within the

justice system and the great disservice that had been enacted upon them. This chapter proved to
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be one of the more difficult ones to read through since it entails the horrors that the youth had to

endure, highlighting the burdens and torment that shackled these children; hardships that may

even be considered cruel if enacted upon an adult. These three stories immensely resonate with

those who are parents and even brothers and sisters, as it is an innate human response to want to

protect the vulnerable and more impressionable in an effort to preserve their innocence and

well-being. Stevenson displays this youthful innocence when he states “[Trina and Francis]

climbed through the window of a row house in Chester… want[ing] to see the talk to the boys

who lived there… [Trina] lit matches to find their way to the boys room. [And] the house caught

fire” (Stevenson 149). This is a clear example of how her innocence had disallowed for her to

properly reason and predict what kind of consequences would follow her actions. Today, if the

child were to ever commit a crime – lets say they steal – the consequences would fall upon the

parent as the child is incompetent to make reasonable decisions.

It was later revealed that the two boys that she hoped to meet unfortunately “died from

smoke asphyxiation” ultimately leaving Trina “traumatized” (Stevenson 150). This should only

further support the idea that this was not an act of malice, but rather an unfortunate byproduct of

immature actions and – once again – innocence (lacking corruption; purity). However, to

nobody's surprise, despite these being critical factors in her case, she was sentenced to life in

prison and punished as an adult. Although the judge recognised that this was an unfair

punishment for a minor, writing “‘This is the saddest case I’ve ever seen,’” the law was negligent

in taking these circumstances into consideration and determined to charge every individual the

same, regardless of age and/or intent. In the eyes of the African American community, these

harsh sentences are inhumane, yet, sadly, would not come as a surprise as they know that these
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institutions were designed to remove Blacks and others of color from the streets, and showed no

mercy towards the young. Trina, is a prime example of the horrors that black youth have to face,

contributing to Black distrust of authority, as it is seen time and time again that this power is

constantly being misused ranging from police brutality to false and mass incarceration.

Stevenson also reassures his audience that he is knowledgeable and well informed when

writing on the topics of injustice and incarceration by providing a variety of statistics and

evidence to formulate logical conclusions. By doing so, one is more likely to read his text with

the confidence that they are not being misled, and the introduction of ​Just Mercy​ serves as a

great example of his work. Stevenson mentions “one in every 15 people born in the United States

in 2001 is expected to go to jail or prison; one in every three Black male babies … is expected to

be incarcerated” (Stevenson 15). This proves to show that a large percentage of the U.S.

population (roughly 6.7%) is either behind – or has experienced being behind – bars. Since there

are various factors that contribute to the formation of these statistics, there is always the

possibility that information has been overlooked when analyzing this data. In other words, it is

unclear as to the ​exact r​ eason why these numbers are the way they are, but Stevenson makes a

compelling argument as to why this phenomenon of mass incarceration exists. He later makes

the point that “spending on jails and prisons by state and federal governments has risen from

$6.9 billion dollars in 1980 to nearly $80 billion today” (Stevenson 16). This suggests that these

institutions are a massive source (in the sense that they are flourishing) of profit rather than just

an isolated location where criminals are held. It is also unclear as to how many people in prison

today, or once were in prison, were the true perpetrators of the crimes they were accused of

committing.
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While we are actively striving for a more just society, these anecdotes unmask the

desperation of our Criminal Justice System, depicting the extreme lengths our society is willing

to go to in order to preserve a false sense of security. The story of Gorge Stinney only

corroborates this conclusion. He was a 14 year-old African-American boy who was falsely

accused of the murder of two White girls and scentenced to death by exicution, only for the real

killer to admit to the murders years after while he laid on his deathbed. This is just one of the

many despairing and agonizing realities that these marginalized communities have had to live

with, and unlike this account, many, to this day, still go unrecognised. Branigin makes it

apparent that many over these wrongful convictions were an attempt to please the white majority

in the country, regardless of the repercussions. However, she also points out that these

reproduction would always ended up harming the black community, as African Americans were

the ones falsely being accused of crimes they didn't commit simply to accommodate white

sentiment.

As mentioned before, Stevenson tries to earn the trust of his readers by asserting his

validity on these topics through the use of facts and logic; however, he also takes a more direct

approach by briefly elaborating on his work and studies during the book’s introduction. He

begins by pointing out that he received his education from Harvard Law School all while

“pursuing a graduate degree in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government…”

(Stevenson 4). Not only is this authority important to the reader, since, we, as readers, hope we

are being provided with accurate information, but it is this credibility that is also incredibly

significant to the individuals in the story. Given that this is a true narrative, many of the people in

this text relied on Stevenson’s ability to adequately represent them and their cases in a court of
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law. Their futures literally lay in his hands and are determined based off how compelling of an

argument he can present. Of course, this comes with its challenges, as racial bias runs rampant

within the court houses, stacking all odds against those with less representation; in this case,

African Americans. When looking back at Walters specific situation, the court was purposely

filled with a White audience in order to prevent any African-Americans from entering the room,

with the hope of decreasing the morale of the community. These efforts, however, did not

entirely have the desired effect, as this only emboldened individuals, motivating them to arrive to

the court house even earlier and stand in solidarity with Walter. After Walter has been declared a

free man, he decides to live the remainder of his life, not dwelling on the past, but rather to it to

the fullest extent. This act of moving on, however, in the eyes of Roaxan Gay, can also be seen

as an act of compliance towards the maltreatment of African Americans. While Gay does noty

want this to fuel the divide between those who are and arenty peoiple of color, she wants these

cruelties to be remembered and used as a motiviating factor as to why the African-American

community needs to fight back. She fears that if we are to dismiss the tramas that have been

enacted upon the community, that we simply allow the cycle of abuse to continue. Gay hopes,

that through recognition and awareness, we will be able to better to combat these injust practices,

channeling “black rage” and frustration (​Branigin).

Stevenson's use of various anecdotes, individual experiences and accounts, allows for the

creation of a dramatic setting, truly showing the despair that has plagued the African American

community, brought on by the Criminal Justice System. He sheds light on the stories of people

like Trina Garrett, George Stinney, and Walter McMillan in order to call out certain instances

where these systems and institutions have done more harm to our society than good. ​Just Mercy
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serves as a reminder of the dangers that can come with a fractured Justice System as well as

demonstrates what we as a society should avoid becoming, and be seen as learning lessons rather

than perceiving these victims as unfortunate casualties that were “at the wrong place, at the

wrong time.” The addition of opinions from individuals like Anne Branigin and Roxane Gay and

their presentation of the African-American community allows for better understanding of the true

impact despiration and negligence within the American Justice System has on the colored

community as well as how it impacts individuals percepton of authority.

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Work Cited:

Branigin, Anne. “Botham Jean, Amber Guyger and the Delusion of Forgiveness.” ​The Root,​ The

Root, 3 Oct. 2019,

https://www.theroot.com/botham-jean-amber-guyger-and-the-delusion-of-forgivene-1838

740376

Stevenson, Bryan. ​Just Mercy: a Story of Justice and Redemption​. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.