Justin Morgan

Professor Shanetta Lillard

University Sem II-Biology
2 May 2021

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a must-read story about Stevenson and
his work in EJI to save death row inmates wronged by the state. The story humainses death row
inmates through their stories of how they ended up in death row. Also, the corruption in the
justice system is brought to light throughout the story. Overall, the book has its strengths and
weaknesses, it should be recommended to others, and if there was a second edition more current
situations should be included.

The above statements emphasize why this book is a must-read. First, Just Mercy: A Story
of Justice and Redemption has its strengths and weaknesses. The strength of the book is clearly
exposing the corruption of the justice system such as when the state pressures Ralph Myers to
make a false accusation against Walter in order to put him into death row. However, the
weakness of this book is that these stories of death row inmates being wronged by the state are
constrained in the era where death row was legal; there are many more cases of justice system
corruption in the years of 2020 to 2021 that could be logged within this book. In essence, the
book has strength in exposing the injustice within the justice system but the weakness is that it
has more potential but is confined to the era when death row was legal.

This book should be recommended to others to help them understand how a corrupt
justice system was established in the first place. The constant themes of racial bias, mass
incarcerations, mental illness, and lack of accountability regarding prosecutors and law
enforcement throughout the book point out how this corrupt justice system was formed. In
addition, this book should be recommended for those looking for better understanding on why
police brutality is focused towards blacks and why is more evident now than before; the themes
of the book apply to the modern day justice system and the black community. To increase the
public's knowledge of the plight of being black in the presence of police based on the themes
present in the book it should be recommended and shared around.
 Lastly, if there were a second edition of this book I would not delete anything but would
include cases in the both the death row era and the millennial era. As mentioned before, the book
excels in exposing the corrupt practices of the justice system but in implementing modern day
cases the audience can see how these corrupt practices transcended and transformed over time to
the modern day. Once again, this would help people clearly see the corruption of our modern day
justice system and where it originated from; this may inspire people to become just like Mr.
Stevenson and stick up for those who are falsely accused and wronged by the corrupt justice
system.

In summary, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a powerful story that is a
must read. First, it is strong in clearly exposing the corrupt practices of the justice system and has
weakness in being confined to the death row era. Second, the book should be recommended to
others to increase their knowledge on how this type of justice system originated and how that
translates to the millennial era based on the book's themes. Third, if there ever were to be a
second edition of this book both cases of the death row era and millennial era should be
implemented to show the transcendence and transformation of corrupt practices by the justice
system.