Just Mercy

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Henry is the first prisoner on death row Stevenson meets, as part of an internship while in his senior year at Harvard Law School. How did Stevenson react to this meeting?

A) Henry caused Stevenson to weep, realizing the injustice of the entire American legal system.

B) Henry altered Stevenson’s understanding of human potential, redemption, and hopefulness.

C) Stevenson laughed uncontrollably—not because anything was funny, but at the absurdity of it all.

D) Stevenson felt guilty that he was a free man, with his whole life ahead of him, whereas Henry’s was just about to end.

2. Why did Stevenson’s client Walter begin an affair with a local married white woman (Karen Kelly)?

A) He was unhappy in his marriage.

B) Karen seduced him.

C) He was bored with his life.

D) Karen threatened to ruin his reputation if he didn’t.

3. When Stevenson is wrongfully interrogated by the police in Chapter 2, what song is he listening to on the car radio?

A) “What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye

B) “Stop in the Name of Love” by Diana Ross and the Supremes

C) “Stand!” by Sly and the Family Stone

D) “American Pie” by Don McLean

4. What lie told by Bill Hooks, a jailhouse snitch, plays a role in the conviction of Walter McMillian?

A) He says he saw Walter’s truck near the scene of Karen’s murder.

B) He says Walter confessed to him privately that he murdered Karen.

C) He says that he saw Walter’s car speckled with blood.

D) He says he saw Walter running out of Karen’s backyard around the time of the murder.

5. What were the factors of his identity that created prejudice against Herbert Richardson?

A) He was white, Muslim, and identified as gay.

B) He was Black, Muslim, and had a criminal record.

C) He was Latino, atheist, and had a psychiatric disability.

D) He was Black, Muslim, and had a psychiatric disability.

6. In Chapter 5, after Stevenson’s conversation with the new DA, Tom Chapman, why does seeing yet another flyer for a performance of To Kill a Mockingbird infuriate him?

A) Stevenson wonders how people can engage in frivolity, like attending plays, when their community is rife with injustice.

B) Walter’s family specifically asked the local community to cease performing that play, out of respect to Walter.

C) Stevenson resents the hypocrisy that the community would perform this anti-racist play while allowing racism to hurt Walter and many others.

D) Stevenson finds both the play and the book incredibly offensive in its portrayal of Monroeville’s community, both its Black and white members.

7. Karen Tate describes to Stevenson the poor treatment she is receiving in prison. What is one reason why Sherriff Tate taunted her?

A) For having blonde hair

B) For sleeping with Black men

C) For wearing glasses

D) For having a lisp

8. What criminal charge led Antonio Nunez, who saw daily violence at home and within his gang-infested L.A. neighborhood, to be sentenced to life in prison?

A) First-degree murder

B) Second-degree murder

C) Embezzlement

D) Kidnapping

9. What traumatic event happened to Mrs. Williamson, an older Black woman and supporter of Walter, in 1965 in Selma?

A) She was sprayed with fire hoses by firefighters.

B) She was hit with a club by a police officer.

C) She was attacked by a police dog.

D) She was sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray.

10. What does “malingering” mean, and how did it play into the case of George Daniel?

A) Faking illness—what the doctor involved in Daniel’s case said he was doing, rather than having a genuine mental illness

B) Evading bus fare—what Daniel did just before his scuffle with the police

C) Having a cancerous mass growing on the brain—what caused Daniel to act erratically on the bus

D) Being unable to tell reality from hallucination—what Daniel was experiencing when he committed the crime

11. After how many years of wrongful imprisonment is Marsha Colbey—a woman who was wrongfully convicted of killing her child—released with Stevenson and the EJI’s help?

A) 5 years

B) 8 years

C) 10 years

D) 14 years

12. After Walter is found not guilty and released from prison, what happens with Sherriff Tate?

A) He is subject to an internal investigation by his superiors at the police station.

B) He moves to Georgia, where he starts a new life with his wife and children.

C) He is charged a fee for improper conduct by the state of Alabama.

D) He continues to say Walter is guilty and remains sheriff of Monroeville.

13. What laws does Stevenson argue demonstrate the hypocrisy of how the American legal system deals with children and young adults?

A) Laws forbidding young teenagers from voting or drinking alcohol

B) Laws forbidding young teenagers from gambling at age 18

C) Laws forbidding young teenagers from having driver’s licenses until they are 18

D) Laws forbidding young teens from joining the military until 18

14. What is the primary reason Walter has difficulty gaining admission to an assisted living facility?

A) He is under 65 years old.

B) He is Black.

C) He has a felony record.

D) He has too many medical conditions.

15. At which notoriously brutal prison/work camp, which was once a slave plantation, do Stevenson and his staff have trouble helping inmates?

A) Rikers Island

B) Ely State Prison

C) Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola

D) Reeves County Detention Complex

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. In Chapter 4, Stevenson goes into great detail about what the process of capital punishment actually looks like. Why does he do this?

2.  Especially in the book’s final section (Chapter 14-Epilogue), what is Stevenson’s message around the nature of resilience?