Just Mercy

Introduction-Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. Delaware (Introduction)

2. Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (Introduction)

3. Because he is named after a Confederate general (Chapter 1)

4. Monroeville, Alabama (Chapter 1)

5. Charlie (Chapter 2)

6. At a fish fry (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. One night after a long day at work, an officer points a loaded weapon at Stevenson as he’s getting out of his car. Stevenson is terrified but remains compliant. The police officers illegally search his car but finding nothing; they release him. Stevenson files a complaint after this incident, but it is condescendingly brushed off. (Chapter 2)

2. In addition to accusing Walter of killing Karen, Ralph accuses Walter of raping him. Therefore, Walter is also charged with sodomy. This charge, based on a law that discriminates against gay people, allows police to hold Walter for interrogation despite having very little concrete evidence against him. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Eva Ansley (Chapter 4)

2. Horace Dunkins (Chapter 4)

3. “The Old Rugged Cross” (Chapter 4)

4. His wife is Minnie, and his daughter is Jackie. (Chapter 5)

5. Darnell Houston (Chapter 5)

6. Charlie’s grandmother (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. In that story, a poor Black community in Georgia pools money to send its most promising young man, named John, to attend a teacher’s college up north. John is a success at college and returns to the community to create a school for Black children, focusing on empowerment and equality. Like John in the story, Stevenson feels that the hope of an entire community—this community being Walter’s 30-person extended family—rests with him. (Chapter 5)

2. The prosecutor in Charlie’s case wanted to try Charlie as an adult, making him eligible for a more severe sentence and punishment. Charlie was sent to prison when, after witnessing his mother’s abusive boyfriend nearly kill his mother, Charlie killed him. It was a defensive move to protect him and his mother. Having to witness the abuse of his mother was a traumatic experience for Charlie, which drove him to this breaking point. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-10

Reading Check

1. The KKK, or Ku Klux Klan (Chapter 7)

2. Ralph Meyers (Chapter 7)

3. For accidentally causing a fire that killed two boys (Chapter 8)

4. 18 years (Chapter 8)

5. Judge Norton (Chapter 9)

6. For those with severe mental health conditions to be transferred from prisons to hospitals and/or private mental health facilities (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. In Bill Hooks’s testimony, he said he noticed Walter’s distinctive truck at the murder scene. However, Walter’s truck was not given its distinctive markings until after the murder; therefore, Hooks’s testimony must be false. (Chapter 7)

2. Stevenson shows the traumatic upbringing for many of these individuals. Their childhoods are rife with violence, abuse, and neglect. It stands to reason that, if society did not allow certain segments of the population to live in such deplorable circumstances, they might avoid committing any crimes in the first place. (Chapter 8)

Chapters 11-13

Reading Check

1. 3 bomb threats (Chapter 11)

2. The very next day (Chapter 11)

3. The baby was stillborn. (Chapter 12)

4. Tutwiler State Prison (Chapter 12)

5. Circumstantial Evidence (Chapter 13)

6. New York University (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. The public deserves to know that Walter is being unfairly maligned and that he is a good and innocent person. People also deserve to know about abuses of power by the police and others in the legal system. (Chapter 11)

2. National media, especially in towns like Monroeville, are “outsiders” reporting on the affairs of the town; as such, they don’t have deep knowledge of what they are reporting on. Meanwhile, local media’s perspective can often be biased and unfair. Therefore, wider attention is sometimes needed to spur local authorities to reconsider the facts of the case, as happened with Walter. (Chapter 13)

Chapter 14-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. 13 years old (Chapter 14)

2. Dementia (Chapter 15)

3. Lethal injection (Chapter 15)

4. That life imprisonment without parole for children who commit nonhomicidal crimes is unconstitutional (Chapter 16)

5. Racial discrimination (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. Life imprisonment is cruel and unusual punishment for teenagers who were children when they committed crimes. Scientific evidence shows that teenagers lack the maturity, the independence, and the future orientation to be held responsible for their crimes. (Chapter 14)

2. Walter died on God’s schedule, not the government’s schedule. Stevenson finds that “mercy is just when it is rooted in hopefulness and freely given” (313). Walter had mercy in his heart for all those who had wronged or harmed him, and because of that, he was able to make a life for himself after release from prison. (Epilogue)