Matt Berckmoes

September 6, 2018

Those Who Deserve Mercy Least, Appreciate Mercy Most

Just Mercy opened my eyes to many, many issues that are easily masked and hidden to

privileged sectors of society. Bryan Stevenson recalls and reflects on several heartbreaking

stories he experienced through his Equal Justice Initiative. Most of these stories focused on

racism and unequal treatment of minorities in the American “justice” system. They also

centered on the general cruelty present in our justice system through the death penalty,

prosecution of children, and ignorance of very real mental health problems. The main story

Stevenson narrated was the case of Walter McMillian: an innocent man sentenced to death row

for a high profile murder he did not commit.

What struck me the most throughout this book was the fact that I had no idea about any

of these stories: innocent people executed, children sentenced to grow up and die in prison, and

corrupt systems of justice. These are issues easily forgotten about because there’s always the

general assumption, or hope, that the system works and serves its purpose flawlessly.

Therefore, why would prisoners deserve our to time and attention? If they committed crimes,

they get what they deserve, right? This book has shown that assumption is wrong.

Because of these assumptions, though, it’s easy to not notice or even ignore these

problems. Most people do not take the time to solve these problems, understand them, or even

listen to them. Throughout the entire book, those wrongly convicted or improperly sentenced

were blatantly ignored. They each have a story, a reason, a soul.

At the end of the book, Stevenson paints the picture of “just mercy.” He says those that

appreciate mercy the most, deserve it the least. With this idea and considering the rest of the

book, these were mostly heartbreaking stories of people that ​deserved​ mercy. Of course, there

are probably some people out there that are just bad people. But, I’m sure most people in these

situations are just misunderstood and lack necessary help and resources
Matt Berckmoes
September 6, 2018
While I don’t plan to be an attorney or a politician, I know that I can take the lessons of

listening to understand and applying just mercy to my life now and in my future career.