Just Mercy

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. In what state did Bryan Stevenson grow up?

2. At what organization did Stevenson take an internship in his senior year of Harvard Law School?

3. Why does the name of Alabama judge Robert E. Lee Key give Stevenson pause?

4. In what city, which also happens to be the setting of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, was Stevenson’s client Walter born and raised?

5. With whom does Stevenson move in to help him survive on his meager salary?

6. Where do the Black residents who believe that Walter couldn’t have killed Karen say they saw him at the time of the murder?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What run-in does Stevenson have with the police that inspires him to want to open his own Alabama office?

2. How do anti-gay laws aid the police in their wrongful apprehension of Walter?

Paired Resource

“Just Mercy: Bryan Stevenson on Instilling Compassion in Young Adults”

• In this 6-minute video, Stevenson appears on CBS This Morning to promote the YA adaptation of Just Mercy, explaining that the need to instill compassion in young adults is needed now more than ever.
• Why is Stevenson so passionate about teaching teens and young adults to have a sense of Mercy and/or compassion? How might this knowledge have helped him while growing up?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. With what friend does Stevenson open the Equal Justice Initiative in 1989?

2. What is the name of Stevenson’s client who is executed, despite having a severe intellectual disability?

3. What hymn did Herbert Richardson request be played at his execution, as he walked to the electric chair?

4. What are the names of Walter’s wife and daughter?

5. From whom does Stevenson get a call in Chapter 5, saying that he can prove one of the trial’s key witnesses is lying?

6. What relative of Charlie, the 14-year-old who was convicted of murder in Chapter 6, pleads with Stevenson to help with Charlie’s case?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What about Walter’s family situation makes Stevenson think about the W.E.B. DuBois short story “On the Coming of John”? Briefly summarize the story in your answer.

2. Why is Charlie imprisoned in an adult facility, despite being only 14 years old? Briefly describe his case, including the crime he committed and details about his childhood.

Paired Resource

“Black Disparities in Youth Incarceration”

• In this publication from 2021, the nonprofit organization The Sentencing Project examines the latest data to show the “disparity at which Black and white youth are held in juvenile facilities.”
• Look through the statistics presented by The Sentencing Project. Where does Charlie fit into this data and the story that is told through this statistical analysis? How might the information here connect to the themes of Institutionalized Racism and Justice?

Chapters 7-10

Reading Check

1. By what notoriously racist organization is Judge Patterson backed?

2. In Chapter 7, who calls Stevenson from prison and begs to speak with him, stating that he was coerced into giving false testimony and now wants to recant?

3. For what crime was Trina Garnett, a woman with intellectual disabilities whom Stevenson describes in Chapter 8, imprisoned?

4. How many years did Ian Manuel spend in solitary confinement?

5. Who is the new judge assigned to Walter’s case in Chapter 9?

6. For what cause did activists in the early 19th century, such as Dorothea Dix, fight?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Stevenson determine, based on details concerning Walter’s truck, that Bill Hooks’s testimony is a lie?

2. In Chapter 8, Stevenson highlights the cases of several imprisoned people convicted of crimes they committed as young children. What purpose does this serve?

Paired Resource

“The Research Is Clear: Solitary Confinement Causes Long-Lasting Harm”

• The nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative discusses how the research is very clear that solitary confinement is a cruel and unusual punishment, one that leads to long-lasting psychological harm.
• As explained by this article, why do individuals in solitary confinement, like Ian Manuel in Chapter 8, sometimes resort to self-harm?

Chapters 11-13

Reading Check

1. Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative experiences numerous threats as the result of the work they’re doing on Walter’s case. How many bomb threats does the organization receive in 2 months?

2. After the Court of Appeals invalidates Walter’s conviction and death sentence, how long does it take for him to be released from prison?

3. Why did Marsha Colbey’s seventh child pass away?

4. What prison that Stevenson mentions in Chapter 12 incarcerates thousands of women after the deaths of their children?

5. What book about the criminal justice system features Walter’s case after he is released?

6. At what university does Walter become a frequent guest at a course taught by Stevenson?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Stevenson take the risk of seeking media attention regarding Walter’s case, even though it could get the EJI slapped with a defamation suit from Sherriff Tate and others?

2. In Chapters 11-13, what point does Stevenson make regarding the role of national media vs. local media in demanding justice?

Paired Resource

“Alabama Releases Man Held on Death Row for Six Years”

• Dated March 3, 1993, this is the original New York Times article announcing Walter McMillian’s release from prison. (Subscription may be needed to view.)
• Is there anything about this article’s reporting on issues of race and wrongful imprisonment that strike you as unusual and/or untruthful by today’s standards?

Chapters 14-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. At what age did Joe Sullivan, the person sentenced to life in prison in Chapter 14, commit his crime?

2. What severely debilitating illness does Walter develop?

3. What method of execution has gradually replaced the electric chair and the gas chamber?

4. What major ruling regarding imprisoned children did the Supreme Court make in 2010, after tireless work by the EJI and others?

5. Stevenson believes that better education in what area will prevent future injustice?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Stevenson believe that teenagers should not be sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as children?

2. As Stevenson reflects on Walter’s life in the Epilogue, what conclusions does he come to regarding justice and mercy?

Recommended Next Reads

Solitary by Albert Woodfox

• Solitary is the 2019 memoir by activist Albert Woodfox, who spent more than four decades in solitary confinement at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
• The book deals with issues of Racism, particularly how it influences America’s broken legal system, creating an environment where Justice is not applied equally to all.
• Solitary on SuperSummary

The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson

• In this 2017 work of nonfiction, Timothy B. Tyson provides an account of the 1955 murder of a young Black boy named Emmett Till.
• The book explores the roots of Institutionalized Racism and issues surrounding Justice in the context of persecution and unfair treatment of Black people in the United States.
• The Blood of Emmett Till on SuperSummary