Just Mercy: Chapters 12–16

by Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson details his experiences as a defense attorney, focusing on the case of Walter McMillian, who insisted on his innocence even after he was sentenced to the death penalty. This book provides an eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at how the criminal justice system works — or doesn't.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 1, Chapters 2–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–11, Chapters 12–16
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. evasive
    deliberately vague or ambiguous
    Marsha didn't trust the woman and was evasive when she made inquiries.
  2. treatise
    a formal text that treats a particular topic systematically
    Enstice's conclusion was further discredited by Dr. Werner Spitz, who had authored the medical treatise Enstice had relied on in her forensic pathology training.
  3. pursuant
    in conformance to or agreement with
    Mrs. Colbey rejected the State's offer of a plea agreement, pursuant to which she would have gone to prison for eighteen years, because she was adamant that she had done nothing wrong.
  4. laud
    praise, glorify, or honor
    The crime was sensationalized by the local media, which lauded the police and prosecutor for coming to the aid of a defenseless infant.
  5. acquit
    pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
    Time magazine called the prosecution of Casey Anthony, the young Florida mother ultimately acquitted in the death of her two-year-old daughter, the “social media trial of the century” after the story generated nonstop coverage on cable networks.
  6. preeminent
    greatest in importance, degree, or significance
    Despite America's preeminent status among developed nations, we have always struggled with high rates of infant mortality—much higher than in most developed countries.
  7. ostensibly
    from appearances alone
    This “child chemical endangerment statute” was ostensibly passed to protect children living in households where there were meth labs or drug-trafficking operations.
  8. impartial
    free from undue bias or preconceived opinions
    During jury selection, numerous jurors announced that they could not be impartial toward Mrs. Colbey.
  9. gratuitous
    unnecessary and unwarranted
    In 1996, Congress passed welfare reform legislation that gratuitously included a provision that authorized states to ban people with drug convictions from public benefits and welfare.
  10. luminary
    a celebrity who is an inspiration to others
    We usually honored a luminary in public service and a client.
  11. onerous
    burdensome or difficult to endure
    While other states have caps of more than a million dollars, and many have no cap at all, several states impose onerous eligibility requirements.
  12. solicit
    request urgently or persistently
    But the news coverage about the possible $9 million payoff outraged people in Monroeville who still questioned his innocence and titillated some of Walter's friends and family, a few of whom started soliciting him aggressively for financial help.
  13. dissent
    the difference of one judge's opinion from the majority
    The Court's decision was strongly criticized by scholars and Court observers, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a compelling dissent, but Thompson did not get any money.
  14. commute
    exchange a penalty for a less severe one
    The problem was so significant in Illinois that in 2003, Governor George Ryan, a Republican, citing the unreliability of capital punishment, commuted the death sentences of all 167 people on death row.
  15. moratorium
    a legally authorized postponement
    Abolitionists were becoming hopeful that more profound death penalty reform or possibly a moratorium might be achievable.
  16. systemic
    affecting an entire structure, network, or complex of parts
    His personality, presence, and witness said something extraordinary about the humanity of people directly impacted by systemic abuse.
  17. prudent
    marked by sound judgment
    When he described his finances, it became clear he was spending the money we’d secured for him more quickly than seemed prudent.
  18. succinct
    briefly giving the gist of something
    “He doesn't give speeches. He's usually very direct and succinct," I told the interviewers.
  19. dissonance
    the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality
    Dissonance and harmonic tension slowly resolved into warm chords—the sound was transcendent.
  20. philosophical
    relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge
    The report switched back to me saying something abstract and philosophical, and then it was over.
  21. apprehend
    take into police custody
    Within minutes of the assault, Gulley and McCants were apprehended together.
  22. latent
    potentially existing but not presently evident or realized
    The only physical evidence to implicate Joe was a latent partial palm-print that the state's examiner testified matched him.
  23. meritorious
    deserving reward or praise
    Despite numerous potentially meritorious grounds for appeal, Joe's appointed appellate counsel filed an Anders brief—indicating his belief that there were no legitimate grounds for appeal and no credible basis to complain about the conviction or sentence—and was permitted to withdraw from representing Joe.
  24. brusque
    rudely abrupt or blunt in speech or manner
    I asked the guards why he was in the cage in the first place, which prompted a brusque response: "Lifer. All lifers have to be moved with higher security protocols.”
  25. paltry
    contemptibly small in amount or size
    There was no way an eighty-six-year-old man could have stopped them from getting away with their paltry loot.
  26. maturational
    relating to or involved in full development
    A maturational process that is gradual, unfolds over the course of adolescence, and permits more advanced self-regulation and impulse control...
  27. temporal
    of or relating to or limited by time
    The temporal gap between the arousal of the socioemotional system, which is an early adolescent development, and the full maturation of the cognitive control system, which occurs later, creates a period of heightened vulnerability to risk taking during middle adolescence.
  28. reactionary
    extremely conservative or resistant to change
    It seemed odd to have to explain in a court of law something so fundamental about childhood, but the commitment to harsh punishments for children was so intense and reactionary that we had to articulate these basic facts.
  29. incongruity
    the quality of disagreeing
    We emphasized the incongruity of not allowing children to smoke, drink, vote, drive without restrictions, give blood, buy guns, and a range of other behaviors because of their well-recognized lack of maturity and judgment while simultaneously treating some of the most at-risk, neglected, and impaired children exactly the same as full-grown adults in the criminal justice system.
  30. infirm
    lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
    Soon, Walter needed to be moved into the sort of facility that provided care for the elderly and infirm.
  31. efficacy
    capacity or power to produce a desired result
    But questions about the painlessness and efficacy of lethal injection were emerging.
  32. propriety
    correct behavior
    Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was especially active during the oral argument, asking me lots of questions about the propriety of correctional staff engaging in medical procedures.
  33. inherently
    in an essential manner
    The U.S. Supreme Court, in Baze v. Rees, later held that the execution protocols and drug combinations weren't inherently unconstitutional.
  34. avail
    a means of serving
    We tried frantically to get the Courts to issue a stay based on the new issues we'd uncovered, to no avail.
  35. reprimand
    censure severely or angrily
    I was devastated to be reprimanded by my mom so harshly.
  36. disingenuous
    not straightforward or candid
    I was still hugging the boy, so he couldn't see the disingenuous look on my youthful face.
  37. forswear
    formally reject or disavow
    Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.
  38. reciprocal
    concerning each of two or more persons or things
    There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity.
  39. retribution
    the act of taking revenge
    It's when mercy is least expected that it's most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering.
  40. inundate
    overwhelm or fill quickly beyond capacity
    Moments later we were inundated with a flood of calls from media, clients, families, and children’s rights advocates.
  41. retroactive
    having an effect on events that occurred previously
    Prosecutors in many places resisted retroactive application of the Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama, but everyone now had new hope, including Ashley Jones and Trina Garnett.
  42. resumption
    beginning again
    In 2013, Alabama recorded the lowest number of new death sentences since the resumption of capital punishment in the mid-1970s.
  43. stigma
    a symbol of disgrace or infamy
    Because I was born during a time when the stigma of racial hierarchy and Jim Crow had real consequences for the ways my elders had to act or react to a variety of indignations, I was mindful of the way that the daily humiliations and insults accumulated.
  44. invoke
    cite as an authority
    When I chuckled at the older woman’s invocation of the parable, she laughed, too.
  45. parable
    a story told by Jesus to convey his religious message
    When I chuckled at the older woman’s invocation of the parable, she laughed, too.
Created on Fri Nov 16 11:20:27 EST 2018 (updated Fri Nov 16 15:26:24 EST 2018)

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