Poverty and Justice

Bryan Stevenson is concerned that one out of every three black babies born in the United States will go to prison. He’s concerned that the United States has some 6.6 million people locked up. He’s concerned that 20% of these people are mentally ill. Another 6.3 million people are on probation or parole. Pennsylvania ranks fifth in the number of people in prisons. We also rank first in the world with 524 juveniles serving life without parole.

Stevenson is concerned that 7 million people are unemployed or underemployed. That includes 64% of women.

Stevenson told the University of Pittsburgh School of Law on January 25 that “visions are fueled by a fire in the heart.” He was speaking as the founder, and executive director, of the Alabama based Equal Justice Initiative which is devoted to challenging racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and to fighting poverty. Stevenson’s current Magnum Opus is; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.

The honor of introducing Stevenson fell to Professor Jules Lobel, himself serving as counsel for the Pelican Bay hunger strikers against the arbitrary system of solitary confinement.

Stevenson opened his presentation by celebrating that “At 10:03 this morning the United States Supreme Court ruled that the case of Miller v Alabama is retroactive.” The Miller case had ruled, on July 26, 2012, that juveniles could no longer be sentenced to a mandatory life without parole. Pennsylvania had ruled that Miller only applied to sentences rendered after that decision. Montgomery ruled that it applied to all the juveniles serving Juvenile Life Without Parole.

Stevenson emphasized that the first element in criminal justice is proximity. “Proximity” happens when lawyers become “animated by their work.” It’s “when lawyers get proximate to their client.”

His personal encounter with “proximity” came while he was still a law student. He was grudgingly sent to visit an inmate in solitary confinement. He told the inmate that he didn’t have a degree yet, had no criminal experience, and was only allowed to visit for 20 minutes. The stone cold inmate unfolded in front of him for the next three hours. When the guards finally intervened, the inmate broke into “I’m Going to a Higher Level”. Stevenson could hear him singing over the noise all the way through the cell block. He was the only visitor that inmate had ever had.

Stevenson’s second element is to change the narrative - “We tolerate injustice because we are afraid!” “The Rule of Law”, Stevenson said, “only works when it also applies to those we hate.” “The new immigrants are refugees from terror.”

“Our country is infected by racism” Stevenson said. “We tolerated racism, and we must face our history!” “We must make a commitment to truth and reconciliation.” Stevenson would personally like to place a marker at every lynching site in America.

The third element for Stevenson is that we must protect our hopefulness. He again gave a personal example. He went to visit an incarcerated client and was confronted by a trailer in the parking lot which was stocked with every imaginable form of racist and Confederate symbols and trivia. The admitting guard boasted that he owned that trailer. The guard refused to grant Stevenson access to his client until he completed all the visitor searches. He refused to believe that a Negro in a suit and tie was actually a lawyer. The inmate who was finally admitted to the visiting room asked whether Stevenson had brought him a chocolate milkshake. The guard watched the entire dynamic, and monitored the visit. The trailer was gone when Stevenson returned for the next visit. The guard personally escorted Stevenson in to see his client, and reported that he had personally taken that inmate on an outing to buy him a chocolate milkshake.

Stevenson’s fourth element is that we must commit to doing things that are uncomfortable. “We must do inconvenient things.” “Finality must not be more important than fairness” Stevenson said. The idea that “it is too late” demonstrates process orientation of finality. “Why do we kill broken people?” Stevenson asks. “Because we are in a broken system.” “I do what I do because I am broken too.”

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth,” Stevenson said. “The opposite of poverty is justice!”

When Dean William M. Carter, Jr. invited a few follow-up questions, Stevenson was showered with queries. People literally followed him all the way to the elevator. “You’re beating the drum for justice” Stevenson said. “This is an age for direct contact.” “The adult system should not be used for juveniles.”

“We must distinguish between First Degree Murder and Felony Homicide.” “We must enforce the Federal Truth in Sentencing Act,” Stevenson said. “It’s funded by the Federal Government.” “Private prisons are an inherently bad idea,” he said. “They are based more in indifference than in malice.”

Rev.Dr. Roger Thomas is on the Chair, Pennsylvania Committee for the Analysis & Reform of Our Criminal System since 2003

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