Brief Summary Of The Book 'Just Mercy'

Words: 1197
Pages: 5

Just Mercy” in my opinion narrates how cruel our American Criminal Justice System is and how it lacks compassion even for those who are innocent or have committed less severe crimes. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “mercy” is defined as “kindness that makes you forgive someone”. Throughout the book, our criminal justice system shows time and time again that they show no gratitude to those convicted, whether they were guilty or innocent. Some examples the book gives are the many times the court ignores any new evidence and prolongs the process entirely. The word “just” according to Britannica means to “treat people in a way that is considered morally right”. Putting the words “just” and “mercy” together would indicate that people are granted forgiveness in a moral way. However, I think …show more content…
Through Walter’s quote, he shares how much of a disadvantage Black people have not only in the courtroom, but in their daily lives. A common theme in the book involved the criminal justice system ignoring any new evidence and rarely granting any new trails. I believe this problem stems from the little care the justice system has for people of color, even if evidence can prove them innocent. Throughout Walter’s story, we see that the court is slow to acknowledge any evidence that proves he had nothing to do with Ronda Morrison’s murder. We can see that Bryan is starting to lose hope after the state court continued to deny a new trial. This puts Bryan in a tough position where he is unable to do anything more to help Walter off death row. Although the court finally scheduled a new trial, it took a long time to do so because they wanted to arrest someone else before releasing Walter. All of this shows that even though the court knows there is evidence to prove him innocent, they are more concerned about the public’s