Bryan Stevenson Bücher

»Bryan Stevenson ist Amerikas junger Nelson Mandela« Desmond Tutu 13-jährige Kinder, die Jahre in Isolationshaft verbringen müssen, willkürliche Verhaftungen und rassistische Vorurteile durch Polizei und Justiz: Diese Geschichten sind Alltag in den USA. Der Anwalt Bryan Stevenson gibt diesen erschütternden Fällen aus Amerikas Gerichtssälen und Todeszellen eine Stimme und kämpft für sie. Ein notwendiges Buch, das den Rassismus einer Gesellschaft und das Versagen eines Strafsystems anprangert – und erschreckende Einblicke in die amerikanische Gesellschaft gibt.

"The wrenching, and inspiring, story of a fourteen-year-old sentenced to life in prison, of the extraordinary relationship that developed between him and the woman he shot, and of his release after twenty-six years of imprisonment through the efforts of America's greatest contemporary legal activist, Bryan Stevenson. Here is the story of a poor black kid from the toughest neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, who at age eleven began "jacking" (stealing) cars with his friends. At age thirteen he shot a white woman in the jaw during a botched mugging. For that crime, and because of his earlier record as a juvenile delinquent, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole--essentially a death sentence. Forgotten by society, tortured by prison guards, held in solitary confinement for eighteen years, he was nonetheless able to accomplish a near-miraculous release from the unimaginable hell of the U.S. correctional system. Unable to afford legal help, through his own determination and strategic thinking, some serendipity, and the all-important help of complete strangers, including Bryan Stevenson and, perhaps most extraordinarily, the woman he shot, he was able eventually to gain his freedom. Full of unexpected twists and turns, the narrative is at times harrowing, disturbing, and painful, but, ultimately it is astoundingly evocative of the power of human will"-- Provided by publisher

在這世界的大多數地方，貧窮的對立面並不是富有，而是「正義」。 那起案件發生在阿拉巴馬州門羅維爾，一個因《梅岡城故事》聞名的小鎮。1986年，該地最繁榮的城區發生了一起搶劫謀殺案，一名年僅18歲的白人女性被發現陳屍在洗衣店內，震撼了整個小鎮。 冤案主角華特．麥可米利安是非裔美國人，他的婚外情對象是名白人女性，此舉完全違反了當時美國南方對於跨種族戀情的禁忌，以致儘管沒有案底，卻為他招來巨大且致命的麻煩。案發後沒多久，他旋即遭警方以另一假託的指控逮捕，盤問少女命案的細節。在遲未偵破的時間和輿論的壓力下，警方刻意忽視對華特有利的證據，並設計捏造完全不足採信的證詞，草率地將謀殺罪名加諸其身，將他送入死牢。 甫踏入法律行業的布萊恩．史蒂文森協助這起案件時，受到來自執法人員的諸多刁難，甚至是來自法官的嚇阻，讓他見識到我們所以為的正義，原來也有不完美之處⋯⋯