Analysis of Chapters 8-10

Hi readers!

This section of Just Mercy was particularly exciting, and I found it difficult to put down! Stevenson finally presents the new evidence on Walter's case, which has been much anticipated in the last couple of chapters. This gave Walter the much needed justice that Stevenson and the rest of Walter's supporters had been so desperately craving.

However, this portion of the trial came sandwiched between two heart-wrenching cases that Stevenson has handled, which help support and summarize his argument throughout the entirety of the novel. This is what I will focus on mainly in today's post.

Throughout the cases that Stevenson has presented, one thing has been consistent throughout all of them: they involve the unjust persecution of minorities. He has described cases with people of color, women, teenagers, and those suffering from mental illnesses, and has argued that America's legal system is biased against these minority groups.

The cases described in chapters eight and ten involve the incarceration of a sixteen-year old girl named Trina and a twenty-year old African American man named Avery Jenkins. Both Trina and Avery had severe mental disabilities due to traumatic events during their childhood.

One of the main appeals that Stevenson uses in these chapters to argue his point is through the usage of statistics. In Trina's situation, she was convicted of second-degree murder when she accidentally set a house on fire, killing two young boys. She did this at the young age of fourteen, yet was tried in an adult courthouse and sentenced to life in prison when she was only sixteen.

Stevenson uses this example to make his point that young adults are often the victims of unfair trials, which he furthers by including the fact that

"[Trina] is one of nearly five hundred people in Pennsylvania who have been condemned to mandatory life imprisonment without parole for crimes they were accused of committing when they were between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. [This] is the largest population of child offenders condemned to die in prison in any single jurisdiction in the world (151)".

This statistic hit me pretty hard, seeing as I am the age that Trina was when she was sentenced to life in prison. I can't even imagine having my future taken away like that, and it makes me embarrassed for our country that we would judge children the same way we judge adults. This case is much different than it would be if Trina was an adult, seeing that Trina dealt with significant trauma when she was younger, such as being sexually assaulted by her father and being forced to live on the streets, which understandably had a major effect on her mental state. This was recent to when she unwittingly committed the crime, which only further shows how undeveloped and traumatized her brain was at the time of the incident. This was an unjust ruling, and supports Stevenson's argument that the legal justice system is unfair because of how common it is seen for this situation to occur.

Stevenson also adds to his argument by including the case of Avery, who had such negative experiences in foster care as a child that it had emotionally and mentally scarred him for life. This, however, was not taken into account when he murdered a man while having severe hallucinations and thinking that the man was a demon. 

Although our country is getting better and more aware of the stigma that we have created around mental illness, it is clear to see that this era of tolerance and understanding has yet to spread to the courts. Mental illness should always be considered in court rulings, and although punishment should still be provided in some cases, so should assistance for those being persecuted for something that occurred because of their previous trauma.

A flurry of shocking statistics further support Stevenson's point:

"Today, over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States have a diagnosed mental illness, a rate nearly five times greater than that of the general adult population. Nearly one in five prison and jail inmates has a serious mental illness. In fact, there are more than three times the number of seriously mentally ill individuals in jail or prison than in hospitals (188)".

The way these statistics are presented (three in a row) highlights the grim point that they are making; those who are mentally ill need a hospital, not a jail, and the court system is not educated enough about the people that their ruling affects. Mental illness is a large reason for crimes that are committed, and although this is no excuse for committing crimes such as murder, it does provide insight to a potential motive and shows which individuals need assistance. 

Incarceration should never be our answer for curing mental illness.

Once again, I am shocked and embarrassed at these statistics. It definitely helps clarify Stevenson's argument because it provides tangible evidence that shows just how major an issue the injustice of America's legal system is towards minorities. 

Throughout the novel Stevenson has developed this claim, both through the use of logos and through the stories themselves, which work as a form of pathos and give the reader something to apply the statistics to. It gives the issue a more human take, because instead of looking at numbers in a chart the reader is able to feel emotions towards real people who have been affected by these issues.

I definitely agree with Stevenson's argument, and think that the message he is spreading is incredibly important and relevant in today's society. It brings up difficult issues that are not often talked about in America, but the bias that Stevenson discusses affects many wrongly incarcerated people and their families. The work that Stevenson is doing for these people is truly admirable, and the way he presents his argument throughout Just Mercy is particularly strong and eye-opening to the importance of bringing back justice into the justice system.