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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.