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From Memoir To Movie: 'Just Mercy' And Capital Punishment

Bryan Stevenson attends The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street  in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for National Board of Review
Bryan Stevenson attends The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

Attorney Bryan Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy,” has become a central text in changing how Americans discuss the issues of incarceration and capital punishment.

The book tells the story of Stevenson’s attempts to free a wrongly-accused black man in Alabama named Walter McMillian who’s on death row.

Since that case in 1993, Stevenson has founded a nonprofit, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and has advocated for the release of over 140 prisoners facing capital punishment.

Now, the memoir is now a movie starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx.

What was it like watching such a seminal memory be turned into a biopic? What is his nonprofit hoping to achieve in 2020?

Produced by Avery J.C. Kleinman

GUESTS

Bryan Stevenson, Founder and executive director, the Equal Justice Initiative; executive producer, “Just Mercy”; @eji_org

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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