Bryan Stevenson
Lawyer, activist and law professor
Bryan Stevenson is an American lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. He wrote Just Mercy, a memoir about defending a man wrongly sentenced to death.
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American Born 1959 in Milton, United States
About Bryan Stevenson
Stevenson is an American attorney and social justice activist who teaches at New York University School of Law. He founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and leads it as executive director. His work takes on prejudice against poor people and minorities within criminal justice, with a particular focus on children. He has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners and has argued five times before the Supreme Court. He helped bring about United States Supreme Court rulings that bar death sentences for juvenile offenders, as well as mandatory life terms without parole for them. His awards include the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, published in 2014, is his memoir about defending Walter McMillian, who was unjustly convicted and sentenced to death. A 2019 film was based on the book. He also started the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, a site that names African Americans lynched in the South.