Criminal Justice In Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Criminal justice affects individuals with mental illnesses, which becomes a growing problem. After a massive incoming of prisoners, state correctional facilities and hospitals have seen an increase in the number and share of people with mental health problems. Bryan Stevenson’s message is that when individuals are in a mental health crisis,they will most likely run into police than get restorative help. Accordingly, two million who suffer with mental illnesses are put into prisons every year. Almost fifteen percent of men and thirty percent of women, that are placed in prisons, have a serious mental health condition.(Opposing Viewpoints in Context) Once they’re in prison, numerous of those individuals don’t get the treatment they need and wind up deteriorating, their mental illnesses become much worse.

They remain longer in prison than their cell mates without mental illnesses. They are in danger of exploitation and frequently, their conditions get much worse while being in there.Just like Avery Jenkins, who was mentally unstable, he did not get the help he so desperately needed. Avery Jenkins was a mentally disabled man who was convicted of a murder and was sentenced to the death row. Stevenson discusses his clients’ case in order to demonstrate the failures of the justice system, he argues that, “He [Avery Jenkins] had cognitive impairments that suggested some organic brain damage and behavioral problems that suggested…serious mental illnesses.” and I believe that’s true because Avery had showed traumatic mental instabilities. (Bryan Stevenson 197) Avery had been in and out of foster care homes since he was two years old. He also experienced more trauma when he was sent to live with abusive foster parents.

They beat him, starved him and when he didn’t get better they decided to get rid of him; by tying him to a tree. Leaving him there, until someone saw him and called the authorities; which put him right back into the foster care system. He was still in and out of foster homes, his mental illnesses becoming worst. Trying to cope with his difficult situation, he turned to substance abuse. He then went into a psychotic episode where he wandered into a stranger’s house and repeatedly stabbed a man to death, because he believed he was a demon. Stevenson’s cooperation with Avery, and also his experience and the conditions of his crime, propose that his psychological instability and inabilities should’ve been more clear to his attorneys. However, Avery Jenkins’ attorneys did no sort of investigation on any of his background history. Which is why he was quickly convicted of murder and sentenced to death row.

Not only was Avery Jenkins mentally disabled but he was also an African American man. During those times, there was a lot of racial division within the south. At the time of this case, Stevenson was introduced to a racist guard that had given him a hard time when he went to go visit Avery in prison.Stevenson’s message not only attributes to how legal structures can add to the persecution of some groups but to also guarantee that all Americans are dealt with equally. No one looked further into Avery Jenkins case because they just wouldn’t be bothered with him. In their eyes, they had caught another criminal that was on the loose. By favoring groups and people who have more power and by race, the criminal justice system winds up being flawed in the United States. Stevenson shows that there is a high misuse of the justice system and it can degrade both the victims and the ones who are being oppressed. It’s clear that people who have carried out serious offenses, no matter how mentally ill, would typically be handled in the criminal justice system.

However, I realize that it’s best to fully evaluate the prosecutor of any mental illnesses. Bryan Stevenson himself says, “…and prison is a terrible place for someone with mental illness or a neurological disorder that prison guards are not trained to understand.” (Bryan Stevenson 188) It should be acknowledged that numerous of mentally ill people who carry out serious crimes and enter the criminal justice system might not have engaged in such behavior if they had been receiving proper and sufficient mental health treatment. The guard that was harassing Stevenson should not be in his line of position. He not only was being racist towards Stevenson but he was also dispassionate towards Avery Jenkins. That also applied to Avery’s attorneys, whom did not care about what happened with him and left him to fend for himself.Avery Jenkins’ case is intended to individualize the experience of the abuse of justice and the discrimination to enable readers to comprehend the significance of torment that comes from misuse of power.

Bryan Stevenson argued to the judge that, “…not taking Avery’s mental health issues into consideration at trial was as cruel as saying to someone who has lost his legs, ‘You must climb these stairs with no assistance, and if you don’t your just lazy…’”(Bryan Stevenson 199) Stevenson often refers to Avery’s mental state as not only suffering tremendously throughout his time in prison, but as also losing his chance at getting the right help he deserved for his mental and physical health. The case analyses in Just Mercy are additionally intended to exhibit the larger powers that structure the American justice system. This case calls attention to the prisons that are full of prisoners that American society would rather criminalize than supply resources for; like Avery Jenkins. Instead of giving collective assets for social issues or empathizing with individuals from marginalized groups, the justice system substitutes people who are frequently victims themselves.

This is important today because we’re still struggling with giving the mentally ill the proper help they need. “The past six decades have seen widespread closure of state mental hospitals and other institutional facilities that serve people with disabilities…”(Rebecca Vallas) Not only are they putting people with disabilities in prison but they’re also closing mental facilities. People in state and federal prisons are more as likely to report having a disability as the nonincarcerated population, while those in jails are more than four times as likely.Stevenson underlines the significance of active resistance from unreasonable institutions. He depicts the defilement and brutality that invade American court systems and prompt the systematic mishandle of marginalized communities.

Since prisons and jails cannot turn away individuals, it has become a safeway for people who suffer from mental illnesses. According to Morning Edition, “that may be one reason these numbers are higher than those in previous studies.” A Justice Department study found that about fifteen percent of people in jails or prisons suffer from mental health problems.(Morning Edition) The whole justice system is ambushed and tormented from inherent issues and problems that are terribly out of balance with cosmic law and natural order. The justice system is one part of the systems that is particularly degenerated. From the power abusive cop at the base to the dug incomprehensible supreme court judge at the top, commanding absolute power, the justice system has never been more overreaching and oppressive. One needs to submissively walk on eggshells, remaining inside rigid lines just to get past the day without getting locked up for a petty crime. The issue with the justice system is that prosecutors have gained a considerably lot of power and only face few consequences for awful conduct. Choosing whom to follow and whom to overlook is an open welcome to corruption. Also, this defilement can have consequences beyond the people included.