After his graduation from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, Stevenson worked as a staff attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta (1985) and then as executive director of the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center (1989-95), where he represented capital defendants.
Stevenson's five messages—identity matters, the need for proximity, changing the narrative, remaining hopeful, and the willingness to be uncomfortable—exemplify the actions and attitudes of Forum cities as they work to prevent youth violence and create healthier spaces for young people.
Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. He had barely opened the nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, when he agreed to represent Walter McMillian, a Black man wrongly convicted of killing a white woman in the town that inspired To Kill a Mockingbird.
Just Mercy: Sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit - the true story behind gripping drama. In August 1988, a black man named Walter McMillian, known as Johnny D, was sentenced to death for the murder of a white teenage girl in Monroeville, Alabama. His trial lasted less than two days.
Bryan Stevenson (born November 14, 1959) is an American lawyer, social justice activist, law professor at New York University School of Law and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.
62 years (November 14, 1959)Bryan Stevenson / Age
Funding: The Equal Justice Initiative is funded by foundations, corporations, individuals, and government grants.
Microsoft committed $250,000 each to EJI, Black Lives Matter Foundation, Innocence Project, The Leadership Conference, Minnesota Freedom Fund, and NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund. Glossier committed $500 thousand to 5 groups including EJI.
Later on Bryan receives a call from a man named Darnell Houston in which he discloses information that he could prove that Walter was innocent.
Ronda Morrison was the young adult daughter of an influential local white family in Monroeville. On November 1st, 1986, Ronda was found murdered at her workplace, Monroe Cleaners. The white community is baffled by the mysterious murder of a beloved young woman.
Civil lawsuit McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001.
Considered a low-life in Monroeville, Myers uses fantastical stories to get attention. He abuses drugs with his friend, Karen Kelly, and is convicted for involvement in the murder of Vickie Pittman. After his accusation against Walter, Myers tries repeatedly to recant his false testimony.
This work has seen him provide free legal assistance to people on death row, people who have been wrongfully convicted or unfairly sentenced, children sentenced to die in adult prisons, people with disabilities and others who have been marginalised and disenfranchised.
Stevenson’s work is rooted in the realisation that society and the justice system are plagued by systemic racism due to the unresolved history of slavery and white supremacy in the US. His decades-long struggle to stand up for the marginalised, including people on death row, has paved the way for a more just society.
Bryan Stevenson is a civil rights lawyer, who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of criminal justice reform, racial equality, and opposing the historical legacy of institutional racism in the United States.
He is an outspoken opponent of the death penalty. Stevenson has also argued and won cases before the US Supreme Court that have advanced the rights of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system and those of minors prosecuted as adults.
Stevenson University Online’s Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice is designed for working adults who want to pursue a career in improving the quality of justice through education, research, and public service.
Through Stevenson University’s Credit for Prior Learning Program, undergraduate students are eligible to earn up to 30 credits for what they have learned through their previous work and life experiences. Stevenson University Online offers several options for assessing and awarding college credit for prior learning.