Final Synthesis Essay

Rivas 1
Aron Rivas
Professor Lasley
English 1A: CTW
20 November 2019
Just Mercy, written by Bryan Stevenson, tells the stories of the many inmates on death
row that Stevenson helped throughout his career as a criminal justice lawyer. A review by
Raymond Bonner for the Financial Times describes the book as “deeply moving, poignant and
powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the about the death penalty,
and the failures of the administration of criminal justice” (Bonner). Another review by Judith
Lyn Sutton for the Peace Review praises Stevenson for his efforts to help the disadvantaged and
compares him to Nelson Mandela by writing “this nation has finally birthed its own Mandela
who speaks as powerfully for those incarcerated, fairly or unfairly, in the United States as Nelson
Mandela did for those in South Africa” (Sutton). The final review written by Rob Warden for the
Washington Post describes the book as “[as] an easy read - a work of style, substance and clarity.
mixing commentary and reportage, he adroitly juxtaposes triumph and failure” (Warden). One
can see the varying levels that each reviewee approaches the analyzation of the book, in this
essay I will be comparing these three reviews to explore their similarities and differences.
Bonner starts his review with a shocking statistic, “Between 1990 AND 2005, the US
erected new prisons at the … unprecedented rate of one every 10 days” (Bonner). This statistic
and others like “One in every three black male babies born in this century is likely to end up in
prison” set up Bonner to talk about how the justice system has failed many communities. He
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further explores how the stories of the inmates that Stevenson defended play a big role in where
they are in life. Unlike the justice system, Stevenson is understanding and empathetic towards
the inmate's unfortunate events in their lives. Likewise, Sutton praises Stevenson's effort to help
those wrongfully entrapped by the criminal justice system. Sutton references Nelson Mandela as
an advocate for the wrongfully incarcerated and compares his efforts for equality in South Africa
to Stevenson's effort to combat the statistic “one out of every three African-American males
currently land in prison” (Sutton). Somewhat similar to Bonner, Warden explores the idea of
how the criminal justice system has failed and how it seems “more criminal than just - replete
with error, malfeasance, racism and cruel” (Warden). Warden focuses more on the aspects of the
criminal justice system that make unfair and uses Stevenson's efforts to point them out.
These reviews differ in the sense that Bonner’s review is the only one out of the three to
criticize Stevenson. Bonner does not directly criticize the material or the meaning of the book but
rather points out that “Stevenson renders conversations in quotation marks, conversations that
happened years ago - with his clients, with guards, with colleagues, with people he meets at the
courthouse” (Bonner). The other two reviews do not point any flaws about the book, but they do
compare Just Mercy to How to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Sutton talks about the
similarities between both of the books but “reading Stevenson's premier memoir with strategies
for nonfiction makes it more rewarding” (Sutton). On the other hand, Warden briefly talks about
How to Kill a Mockingbird to introduce the town Monroeville, Alabama and proceeds to analyze
Walter McMillan’s case. Warden uses How to Kill a Mockingbird’s popularity to implicate the
stories’ themes of racism, discrimination, and a corrupt justice system to the reality that it exists
in Monroeville.
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In summary, these three reviews have many similarities and differences, but they seem to
mainly focus on different aspects of Just Mercy. The Financial Times review by Raymond
Bonner focuses on the abuse and misconduct of the justice system on inmates of color and how
Stevenson is able to recognize the importance of the statistics and the importance of his effort to
help those incarcerated. The Peace review by Judith Lyn Sutton focuses some on Stevenson's
upbringing which influenced him to become the man he is and also praises Stevenson for his
efforts by comparing him to Nelson Mandela. Sutton also appreciates the truth behind Just
Mercy and how Stevenson structured the book. Lastly, the Washington Post review by Rob
Warden highlights the pitfalls of the criminal justice system and mainly focuses on the court
cases that Stevenson was a part of in Just Mercy.

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Works Cited
ebruary 7,
Raymond Bonner. "Counsel against despair". Financial Times (London, England), F
2015 Saturday.
https://advance-lexis-com.libproxy.scu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:
5F7R-PJG1-DXXV-406K-00000-00&context=1516831. Accessed November 21, 2019.
Sutton, Judith Lyn. “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.” Peace Review, vol. 28, no.
4, Oct. 2016, pp. 533–536. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/10402659.2016.1237214.Accessed
November 21, 2019.
Rob Warden. "A life spent vindicating the innocent". The Washington Post, October 26, 2014
Sunday.
https://advance-lexis-com.libproxy.scu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem
:5DFM-89P1-DXXY-351K-00000-00&context=1516831. Accessed November 21, 2019.

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cases that Stevenson was a part of in Just Mercy.

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cases that Stevenson was a part of in ​Just Mercy.​

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cases that Stevenson was a part of in Just Mercy.