Just Mercy provides a perspective of the implementation of justice that arguably is lacking in the evaluation of the criminal justice system in using quantitative evaluation alone. Further, the book provides an opportunity to assess qualitative impacts as costs and benefits to a society while challenging the reader to assess the rationale for criminal justice given the seeming discrimination and lack of reintegration of previously incarcerated individuals. In your refection of this text given the article we have read and the evaluation economics has promoted address one of the following.
Is there a defined social purpose to criminal justice other than punishment? How much does punishment cost? Is there a social cost to the inequity in the distribution of punishment?
What surprised you, if anything, in reading Stevenson’s book? How did the book challenge your beliefs related to the following:
Criminal justice system
Capital punishment
Legal representation
Race
Mental and intellectual disabilities
Women
Juvenile offenders
Stevenson reflects that the opposite of poverty is not wealth but rather justice. How does poverty affect the people in the book? Are poverty and justice able to coexist? What insight does evaluating the impact of poverty on justice provide on our society? How can society intervene to promote greater equity in justice?