Bryan Stevenson

As a longstanding and leading figure in the American redemptive justice conversation, attorney and activist Bryan Stevenson has become the face of the movement to improve access to justice and equal treatment under the law. Bryan began his career at the Southern Center for Human Rights, a death penalty defense organization that he eventually led. When Congress cut funding for death penalty defense, Bryan transformed the organization into the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). A major focus of Bryan’s work at the EJI has been fighting the application of harsh sentencing on minors impacted by poverty and racial discrimination. For instance, Bryan was fundamental to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively banned mandatory life imprisonment without parole for those 17 years old and younger. EJI’s work has also resulted in the release of over 135 wrongfully condemned death row prisoners. Bryan’s memoir, Just Mercy, was recently adapted into a film that has been screened for free in classrooms throughout the country, and Bryan has been an effective speaker around the nation in advocating for a more just justice system.