Just Mercy

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. In what state did Bryan Stevenson grow up?

2. At what organization did Stevenson take an internship in his senior year of Harvard Law School?

3. Why does the name of Alabama judge Robert E. Lee Key give Stevenson pause?

4. In what city, which also happens to be the setting of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, was Stevenson’s client Walter born and raised?

5. With whom does Stevenson move in to help him survive on his meager salary?

6. Where do the Black residents who believe that Walter couldn’t have killed Karen say they saw him at the time of the murder?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What run-in does Stevenson have with the police that inspires him to want to open his own Alabama office?

2. How do anti-gay laws aid the police in their wrongful apprehension of Walter?

Paired Resource

“Just Mercy: Bryan Stevenson on Instilling Compassion in Young Adults”

• In this 6-minute video, Stevenson appears on CBS This Morning to promote the YA adaptation of Just Mercy, explaining that the need to instill compassion in young adults is needed now more than ever.