Western New England University
The United States Criminal Justice System Faults
Readers from varied backgrounds will approach this book with different knowledge and experiences. Did Stevenson’s example resonate with you, or were you shocked? Is the book an eye-opener for you, or validation of what you already knew? Explain your answers, using evidence from the text. Consider how your reaction would differ if you were of a different race or class; were a victim of a serious crime; or had a personal experience with the justice system. After reading Just Mercy, has your view of the criminal justice system changed? Explain.
Zach Mastalerz
ENGR 102
Professor Vollaro
2 September 2016
The United States Criminal Justice System Faults Bryan …show more content…
The racial injustice would not make me upset like it did as my white, middle-class self, but rather it would fill me with intense rage. I would have only been surprised that a white judge would even listen to a black lawyer. I would have loved the idea of the Equal Justice Initiative even more. Stevenson discusses what the Equal Justice Initiative stood for and he said, “We want to end unfair sentences in criminal cases and stop racial bias” (Stevenson 293). If I were a person of color, I would have thought even higher of the Equal Justice Initiative. I have worked with people of color and many of them were poor. When the police came up in conversation my coworkers would immediately change their attitude. Some of the people would become aggressive and talk about the police in a bad manner or they would become passive and just stop talking; possibly because of prior experiences or trauma. I was amazed at how my coworkers changed, even giving me weird looks when I said anything positive about the …show more content…
I took a law class senior year of high school and we learned a lot about various civil rights cases. We learned how the lawyer, defendant, and judge are supposed to act and cooperate. After reading this book, I realized that not everything about the criminal justice system were always good. The laws surrounding the justice system are stellar and give everyone a fair and equal chance. It is the people that run the criminal justice system that really have to make it run well. Stevenson’s stories are not old and Bryan Stevenson himself is only about 10 years older than my parents. The injustice shows how recently there were corrupt officials in the criminal justice system. This book made me believe that in order to have a perfect criminal justice system nobody working in the criminal justice system can be racist, and people of poverty must be represented just as well as rich people. This system will never be absolutely perfect due to the fact that humans make up the system and with humanity comes racism and hate. We can strive to make it as good as humanly possible. People present in this book such as Walter McMillian, Ralph Myers, George Daniel, Evan Miller, Ian Manuel, Joe Sullivan and Bryan Stevenson have all had a large part in bringing up the problems of the U.S. criminal justice system. I believe that with time the system will only make strides forward and excel. The world around us is changing at a rapid
The United States Criminal Justice System Faults
Readers from varied backgrounds will approach this book with different knowledge and experiences. Did Stevenson’s example resonate with you, or were you shocked? Is the book an eye-opener for you, or validation of what you already knew? Explain your answers, using evidence from the text. Consider how your reaction would differ if you were of a different race or class; were a victim of a serious crime; or had a personal experience with the justice system. After reading Just Mercy, has your view of the criminal justice system changed? Explain.
Zach Mastalerz
ENGR 102
Professor Vollaro
2 September 2016
The United States Criminal Justice System Faults Bryan …show more content…
The racial injustice would not make me upset like it did as my white, middle-class self, but rather it would fill me with intense rage. I would have only been surprised that a white judge would even listen to a black lawyer. I would have loved the idea of the Equal Justice Initiative even more. Stevenson discusses what the Equal Justice Initiative stood for and he said, “We want to end unfair sentences in criminal cases and stop racial bias” (Stevenson 293). If I were a person of color, I would have thought even higher of the Equal Justice Initiative. I have worked with people of color and many of them were poor. When the police came up in conversation my coworkers would immediately change their attitude. Some of the people would become aggressive and talk about the police in a bad manner or they would become passive and just stop talking; possibly because of prior experiences or trauma. I was amazed at how my coworkers changed, even giving me weird looks when I said anything positive about the …show more content…
I took a law class senior year of high school and we learned a lot about various civil rights cases. We learned how the lawyer, defendant, and judge are supposed to act and cooperate. After reading this book, I realized that not everything about the criminal justice system were always good. The laws surrounding the justice system are stellar and give everyone a fair and equal chance. It is the people that run the criminal justice system that really have to make it run well. Stevenson’s stories are not old and Bryan Stevenson himself is only about 10 years older than my parents. The injustice shows how recently there were corrupt officials in the criminal justice system. This book made me believe that in order to have a perfect criminal justice system nobody working in the criminal justice system can be racist, and people of poverty must be represented just as well as rich people. This system will never be absolutely perfect due to the fact that humans make up the system and with humanity comes racism and hate. We can strive to make it as good as humanly possible. People present in this book such as Walter McMillian, Ralph Myers, George Daniel, Evan Miller, Ian Manuel, Joe Sullivan and Bryan Stevenson have all had a large part in bringing up the problems of the U.S. criminal justice system. I believe that with time the system will only make strides forward and excel. The world around us is changing at a rapid