payment page
“Bryan,” he said at some point during our short flight, “capital punishment means ‘them without the capital get the punishment.’”
This quote appears in the Introduction when Bryan Stevenson and Steve Bright, director of the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, first meet. Bright’s passion toward his work with prisoners on death row stands in stark contrast to the distance Stevenson feels from social justice in law school classes. Bright’s previous work as a public defender gives him a close understanding of the disadvantages of poor clients in the legal system. For Marsha Colbey, financial distress means she couldn’t afford prenatal care, which might may have prevented her stillbirth and subsequent charges. For Walter McMillian, poverty means his family needs to raise money for his legal defense, while others are left with inadequate counsel. Stevenson uses the quote to illustrate that, for clients he and Bright serve, poverty can be a death sentence.
“It’s like the system has buried me alive and I’m dead to the outside world.”
This quote appears in Chapter Eight in a letter Ian Manuel writes to Bryan Stevenson following a photo shoot in preparation for a report on juveniles who receive life sentences. Stevenson reveals that this term, which he refers to as death-in-prison, is harsher than one an adult committing a similar crime would typically receive. Each part of the system that impacts Manuel adds another layer to the process that buries him alive. Neglected, poor, and living on the streets, he’s an easy mark for older boys to draw into trouble. He pleads guilty, encouraged by an inadequate lawyer who doesn’t realize that two charges carry sentences of life without parole. He goes to an adult prison, with his young age making him vulnerable to sexual assault. For protection, the prison places him in solitary confinement, where he spends eighteen years in a closet-sized box with no human touch and minimal exercise. Stevenson uses this quote to demonstrate the inhumanity of both death-in-prison sentences for juveniles and the process of solitary confinement.
We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent.
This quote appears in Chapter Fifteen as Bryan Stevenson reflects on his career after twenty-five years of advocating for clients victimized by the justice system. In spite of his wins for individuals including McMillian and for juveniles sentenced to life, Stevenson shows that Jimmy Dill’s execution leads him to question his ability to continue the work. As Stevenson ponders leaving, he illustrates how the brokenness surrounding his clients’ lives and permeating the justice system leaves him broken too. However, Stevenson reverses course and reveals that his brokenness fuels his commitment for the work and allows him to connect with those he serves.
The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering.
This quote appears in Chapter Fifteen as Bryan Stevenson examines his revelation of shared brokenness and turns his thoughts to the potential for shared healing. Stevenson reveals that the mercy he empowers by securing McMillian’s release allows McMillian to spread his own mercy. He can forgive those who falsely accused, convicted, and condemned him. While McMillian could have fostered anger and resentment against dishonest individuals and a corrupt system, he chooses to forgive and enjoy true freedom. Stevenson illustrates the mercy shown by Debbie Baigre, shot in the cheek by thirteen-year-old Ian Manuel. Her outreach to the judge decrying Manuel’s harsh sentence, as well as her regular correspondence with Manuel, suggests an unexpected and potent level of mercy. While one might argue that Manuel and those on the other side of the McMillian case did not deserve mercy, Stevenson argues that Baigre’s and McMillian’s ability to share that mercy alleviates suffering for themselves and the objects of their forgiveness.
