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Bryan Stevenson

ブライアン・スティーブンソン

Bryan Stevenson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1959-11-14 （Milton, Delaware, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
African Methodist Episcopal Church
Residence History
Milton, Delaware, U.S. → Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. → Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.

Career

Occupations
lawyer, social justice activist, law professor, founder and executive director, Equal Justice Initiative
Active Years
1985-
Affiliations
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), New York University School of Law (professor)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society
Influenced By
Stephen Bright (Southern Center for Human Rights), Elizabeth Bartholet (Harvard Law), Civil rights leaders (e.g. Martin Luther King Jr.)
Influenced
Equal Justice Initiative (organizational impact and legal reform), Younger lawyers and activists, Court decisions and policy debates prompting juvenile sentencing reform

Education

Eastern University
Philosophy
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1978-1981
Year of Graduation: 1981
Country: United States
Attended on scholarship; directed campus gospel choir
Harvard Law School
Law
Degree: J.D.
Period: 1982-1985
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: United States
Worked on race and poverty litigation clinic during law school
John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard)
Public Policy
Degree: MPP
Period: 1984-1985
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: United States
Earned MPP concurrently with J.D.

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
1995
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Olof Palme Prize
2000
Organization: Olof Palme Memorial Fund
Result: 受賞
Gruber Prize for Justice
2009
Organization: Gruber Foundation
Result: 受賞
Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award (Social Progress)
2012
Organization: Smithsonian Magazine
Result: 受賞
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
2015
Work: Just Mercy
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: Andrew Carnegie Foundation
Result: 受賞
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Nonfiction)
2015
Work: Just Mercy
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Result: 受賞
Benjamin Franklin Medal (American Philosophical Society)
2018
Organization: American Philosophical Society
Result: 受賞
Right Livelihood Award
2020
Organization: Right Livelihood Foundation
Result: 受賞
National Humanities Medal
2021
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities (award)
Result: 受賞
Stockholm Prize in Criminology
2025
Organization: Stockholm Prize in Criminology
Result: 受賞
Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership
2025
Organization: University of Virginia / Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

2014 memoir / non-fiction 336 pages

A memoir recounting Stevenson's work defending death-row prisoners and wrongfully convicted people, focusing on the Walter McMillian case and litigation challenging harsh sentences for children, exposing racial injustice in the U.S. criminal justice system.

mercyracial injusticecapital punishment and sentencingredemption and reconciliation
Adaptations
  • [Film] Just Mercy / Destin Daniel Cretton (2019)

Bibliography

  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)
  • The Politics of Fear and Death: Successive Problems in Capital Federal Habeas Corpus Cases (NYU Law Review, 2002)
  • The Ultimate Authority on the Ultimate Punishment: The Requisite Role of the Jury in Capital Sentencing (Alabama Law Review, 2003)
  • Confronting Mass Imprisonment and Restoring Fairness to Collateral Review of Criminal Cases (Harvard CR-CL Law Review, 2006)
  • Co-editor/author: A Perilous Path: Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law (2018)

Adaptations

  • Just Mercy (2019, film)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
persuasive memoir styleclear blending of legal argument and personal narrativeanecdotal approach appealing to moral and ethical reflection
Recurring Motifs
mercyredemption and reconciliationhistory of slavery and lynchingexposure of institutional racism

Legacy

Stevenson is a prominent advocate against racial injustice in the criminal justice system. Through litigation and the creation of memorials and a museum via EJI, he has linked remembrance with institutional reform. His book Just Mercy and its film adaptation have amplified his public impact.

Museums

  • National Memorial for Peace and Justice Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. Opened in 2018
  • The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. Opened in 2018

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Equal Justice Initiative archives

In Popular Culture

  • Depiction in the film Just Mercy (2019)

Quotes

  • Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.
    Source: Just Mercy and various speeches (2014)

Trivia

  • Has described himself as a lifelong bachelor
  • Played piano and sang in church choir as a child
  • Portrayed by Michael B. Jordan in the film Just Mercy (2019)