Book Discussion Meeting, Saturday, January 9, 2016, San Leandro Main Library, 2:00 PM

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Born in 1959, Bryan Stevenson grew up in Milton, Delaware, and attended Eastern University (Pennsylvania) and Harvard Law School. In Just Mercy, he tells about his working life, spent mostly in the American South, helping indigent people, especially African American and other minority people already incarcerated or facing trial, to get the kind of legal representation that they are so often denied. He went on to found the Equal Justice Initiative, In the video below, he gives a TED talk about his work This talk raised more than $1 million to fund a campaign to stop the practice of trying and sentencing children as adults.



On Bryan Stevenson's website, you can find a page with pictures and stories of some of the people he mentioned in his book, including Walter McMillan, the man whose unjust trial and imprisonment were at the heart of the story of Just Mercy.

Walter McMillan on the day of his release

Criminal Justice Reform as Hot Topic in Popular Culture

The latest Netflix streaming video binge-watch for the past few weeks has been "Making a Murder," about a man, Steven Avery, who was wrongfully convicted of rape, freed, and right after he filed a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit, was rearrested and charged with the murder of a woman who disappeared while on her way to see him. The Netflix series raises questions about Avery's second conviction. Below is the trailer.



Some of the best consciousness-raising commentary in the past few years has come from British-born comedian, John Oliver, formerly of "The Daily Show" now with his own show, "Last Week Tonight" on HBO. Oliver has used his show as a platform to attack many of the inequities of the American justice system. Below are four segments from just the last six months, attacking serious issues using humor. (Warning, because Oliver is a Brit and his show in on HBO, the outraged analogies can get more than colorful from time to time, especially considering the emotional topics under consideration).

Bail


Public Defenders


Mandatory Minimums


Prisoner Reentry


Here are a couple of older but relevant videos.

Municipal Violations


Elected Judges