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Summary: Chapter Thirteen: Recovery
After Walter’s release from prison in 1993, Stevenson and Walter give many interviews and travel to legal conferences to speak about the death penalty. Throughout the decade, executions are on the rise. Walter, separated from his wife Minnie, tries living in a few different places but wants to return home. Stevenson files a civil lawsuit on his behalf, hoping to get money to compensate for everything Walter lost in prison, but law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges enjoy special immunity—the officials who wrongly framed Walter cannot be sued. Walter only gets a few hundred thousand dollars.
Walter uses the settlement money to restart his logging business, but after an injury, he turns to selling scrap metal instead. Stevenson starts to teach at New York University, and Walter comes to talk with his students each year about his experience being wrongly convicted. In 1994, the Equal Justice Initiative faces new financial pressures. Meanwhile, Stevenson learns that he has won a human rights award to be presented in Sweden. A film crew interviews Stevenson and also plans to interview Walter. In Sweden, Stevenson talks to a group of appreciative high school kids. In his hotel, he turns on the TV and sees Walter’s interview. At the end of the segment, Walter becomes uncharacteristically emotional, talking about how rough his ordeal has been.
Summary: Chapter Fourteen: Cruel and Unusual
Chapter Fourteen introduces Joe Sullivan, who was thirteen years old when he burgled a house with two other boys. The owner of the house was raped the same day in an unrelated incident, and the blame for the rape incorrectly fell on Joe. Joe had intellectual disabilities and came from an abusive family. His lawyer provided inadequate defense in court, and Joe was sentenced to life without parole and sent to an adult prison, where he was repeatedly assaulted. Joe became suicidal and wheelchair-bound from multiple sclerosis. Joe had spent eighteen years in prison when Stevenson challenged his sentence as unconstitutional.
Stevenson describes some of the young prisoners he has worked with, including Evan Miller, who at the age of fourteen was convicted of capital murder. Evan grew up abused and neglected and plagued by suicide attempts. Evan reveals to Stevenson that he couldn’t understand the violent behaviors of his youth. Stevenson then recalls his own childhood experience with violent crime, when his grandfather was murdered during a home robbery. Only now does he understand that criminal juveniles, who generally grew up amid horrific abuse and neglect, lack the maturity and impulse control of adults.
While the Florida courts reject his argument that imprisoning someone under the age of fourteen for life without parole for a non-homicide offense constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court agrees to review the case, generating national media attention. Stevenson’s argument focuses on constitutionality and morality. While awaiting the ruling, Stevenson visits Joe, who reads aloud a poem he wrote that ends with the affirmation that he, Joe, is a good person. Stevenson is surprised by the joy Joe has, despite his tragic life circumstances.
Analysis
Stevenson highlights the lasting nature of the trauma of prison by relating stories of the aftereffects his clients have suffered. McMillian’s emotional outburst in a TV interview suggests that he is only able to release these feelings now that he’s been released, having to rely on hope in the darkness of prison. Stevenson reinforces that trauma is not fleeting through the story of Joe Sullivan. As a thirteen-year-old boy, Sullivan has already experienced abuse and neglect, and this trauma compounds during his time in prison. Stevenson details the events including repeated sexual assault and suicide attempts that doctors believe caused extreme stress, triggering Sullivan’s multiple sclerosis. Stevenson uses prison guards’ struggle with Sullivan’s wheelchair in a cage to symbolize the traumatic life in which Joe has been trapped since he was a child. In spite of the severe physical and emotional trauma which he experiences, Sullivan manages to maintain enthusiasm and creativity, illustrated through his interview of Stevenson and his memorized poem. Though hope persists, so does trauma.
Stevenson demonstrates the theme of understanding through closeness using his meetings with Joe Sullivan and Evan Miller. Sullivan questions Stevenson about his favorite color and cartoon character, implying a childlike sensibility. Letters about meals and TV shows suggest an attempt to find some normalcy in the world of prison. In both cases, Sullivan works toward an understanding through the sharing of mundane information. In spite of his heavy caseload and the serious nature of his work, Stevenson’s willingness to engage in these conversations suggests his empathy and knowledge of the importance of developing a close and trusting relationship with his clients. Evan Miller suggests an attempt to understand and connect with the outside world through his conversations with Stevenson about family, books, sports, music, and his future. These conversations allow the two men to develop a relationship based on humanity rather than the business of prisoner and lawyer. In contrast, Miller’s disconnect and confusion about the violence that dominated his young life and his time in prison suggest a disconnect from brutality. If understanding results from closeness, Miller’s lack of understanding implies a desire to distance himself from violence.
Through his examination of juveniles sentenced to life in prison, Stevenson highlights the absurdity of holding adults responsible for crimes committed when they were children. Medical, sociological, and psychological research showing the vast differences in judgment, self-regulation, and impulse control between children and adults suggests that the child and adult versions of an individual are virtually different people. Evan Miller’s confusion about how he could possibly be connected with the violence surrounding his crime reinforces the notion. Stevenson reinforces the argument by referring to juveniles as “unfinished products” and “human works in progress.” He also lends accessibility and understanding by detailing that children aren’t allowed to drink, vote, or buy guns because of their lack of maturity and judgment. Stevenson compares death sentences for juveniles, which the Supreme Court has since prohibited, to life without parole sentences, highlighting that both are unchangeable and terminal. Through Joe Sullivan’s poem, the story of Senator Simpson, and the title of Chapter Fourteen, Stevenson reinforces the cruelty of death-in-prison sentences for juvenile offenders.
