Bryan Stevenson author page

Bryan Stevenson biography

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organisation based in Montgomery, Alabama. His legal work has challenged excessive and unfair sentencing, worked to exonerate innocent death row prisoners, confronted abuse of incarcerated people and mentally ill prisoners, and supported children prosecuted as adults.

Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases at the United States Supreme Court. These include a 2012 ruling that banned mandatory life imprisonment without parole sentences for children aged seventeen or younger, and a 2019 ruling protecting condemned prisoners who suffer from dementia.

His book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption was published by Spiegel & Grau and Random House Audio, and was selected as a 2015 American Library Association Notable Book. Just Mercy won the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction.

Just Mercy was adapted for young adults as Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice. The young adult edition was published in hardcover and ebook formats on 18 September 2018, and the movie tie-in paperback edition was published by Ember on 3 December 2019 for readers aged 12 and up.

Stevenson led the creation of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Sites, including the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. In 2023, he received a National Humanities Medal.