Just Mercy: A Novel
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Several exceptional people, who strive to make forgiveness and healing possible in the aftermath of violent crime, were the inspiration for Just Mercy. They include: David Doerfler—former Director, Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue program for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Victim Services Division—and the victim and offender participants in that program; Ronnie Earle, former Travis County Texas District Attorney and passionate proponent of restorative justice; Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and leading advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty; Marilyn Peterson Armour, PhD, Professor and Director, Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue, The University of Texas at Austin, and relentless seeker of meaning in the aftermath of homicide.
The seeds of Just Mercy, although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, were planted years ago when I decided to investigate the lifelong personal and environmental risk factors experienced by murderers who were executed by Texas in 1997. I focused on Texas because it has the highest rate of executions in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in the late 1970s, and on the 37 men because they represented half of the people put to death in the country in 1997. I am most grateful to the many people—too many to name without inadvertently leaving someone out—that made that research possible.
What I learned from the 37 Men study proved invaluable to me in the development and writing of Just Mercy. The character of Raelynn Blackwell, who murdered Veronica Baker, is the female prototype of one of the profiles that emerged of the men in the study and turned out to be one of the key findings: that virtually all of the men whose childhood backgrounds included sexual abuse, physical abuse and physical or emotional neglect had committed the most-heinous crimes. In Just Mercy, Bernadette Baker’s reaction to a public information packet she is given at Raelynn Blackwell’s execution reflects my own reaction when I first saw how the death penalty was normalized in the packet’s contents (e.g., a history of the death penalty and detailed execution procedures; pages of statistics such as current death row and prior execution lists; a map of the United States with symbols—noose, needle, chair, target, gas chamber door—to show the methods of execution used in each state with the death penalty).
My decision to write fiction in general and Just Mercy in particular grew out of a growing conviction that people become empowered to work for personal and social change, not through objective data and studies, but through personal connections that lead them to care enough to take action. Instead of continuing to conduct research about complex and controversial social issues, I wanted to show how ordinary people find the courage to embrace the rough places of life and make deeply personal and moral choices that transform themselves and the world in important ways. I am deeply indebted to the teachers and writers who taught me how to give voice to my passion for social justice in a way that privileges human emotion and personal experience over detached objectivity.
Best selling author and writing coach Hal Zina Bennett guided me through the first years of transition from academic writer to novelist by providing just the kind of encouragement, support and advice I needed. Max Regan (internationally published poet, writer, and founder of Hollowdeck Press) has been my writing coach, developmental editor, cheerleader and dear friend for many years. Without his extraordinary skill, honesty, insight and genuine caring Just Mercy would not have been possible. The inspiration and skills I get each year at Max’s annual Boulder Writers’ Retreats are living proof of his assertion that writing is a team sport. Mary Kabrich and Roger Roffman, writing group members who have endured listening to innumerable drafts of my work over the years, provide me with priceless critiques without fail twice a month. Huge thanks to my writing team for badgering and pushing me, for giving me feedback I don’t always want to hear, for laughing at and with me, and always, always, for their support, encouragement, and friendship.
My sincere appreciation to everyone who made Just Mercy better by reading and commenting on early drafts: Deede Colbath, Pauline Erera, Larry Fitzgerald, Wendy Gross, Evelyn McChesney, Dorothy Sturdevant, Richard Walker, and Diane Young. Extra thanks go to Larry Fitzgerald who, as former Texas Department of Criminal Justice Public Information Officer in Huntsville, shared details about the Walls Unit that would otherwise have been inaccessible to me.
I am most grateful to Kevin Atticks and the Apprentice House team for publishing Just Mercy and getting it into readers’ hands. Thank you to Christy Karras for her tireless and meticulous copyediting. Thanks to Andrea Dunlop for her expertise as a book publicist and kudos for making me a social media convert.
Words can never fully express the appreciation and gratitude I have for my wife Susan, the love of my life, who shares my passion for social justice and makes it possible every day for me to try to make the world a better place.
JUST MERCY
Dorothy Van Soest
A Book Club and Readers’ Guide
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. What is the significance of the novel’s title, Just Mercy? Discuss its possible different meanings and why you think the author selected this title.
2. In chapter one, the murderer presses the sharp point of the knife into the tip of each of her fingers. What do you think is the significance of this symbolism?
3. How do the personalities and perspectives of members of the Baker family impact how they face Veronica’s death and Raelynn Blackwell’s punishment? What holds them together in spite of their differences?
4. With which character(s) did you feel the most sympathy and connection? How did your opinions or feelings about them change as the story unfolded?
5. Bernadette seems driven, to the point of compulsivity at times. What do you think motivates her?
6. How would you characterize the relationship between Fin and Annamaria? How does it compare to their relationship with their murdered sister, Veronica?
7. How does the shifting point-of-view allow the reader numerous opportunities to understand members of the Baker family?
8. What are your feelings about Raelynn Blackwell? Do they change and, if so, how?
9. Each of the characters in Just Mercy made a choice or took a position that had moral implications. Would you have made the same decision? Why? Why not?
10. Did your notion of what was best or right shift in the course of your reading?
11. How does the setting of Texas figure into the book? Is the setting a character? Does it come to life? Did you feel you were experiencing the time and place in which the book was set?
12. Right after witnessing Raelynn’s execution, Bernadette whispered: “You got her body, but you never got her soul.” What do you think she meant by that?
13. Is the plot engaging—does the story interest you? Were you surprised by the plot’s complications?
14. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? What do you think is the main theme?
15. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not… and how would you change it?
For More Information about the Topics in Just Mercy:
The Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
Murder Victims Families for Human Rights: www.mvfhr.org/
Prejean, Sister Helen. Dead Man Walking. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: http://tcadp.org/
Restorative Dialogue and Restorative Justice
Being with the Energy of Love and Forgiveness, A Film:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OUnOpbmb7g
Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota: www.cehd.umn.edu/ssw/rjp/
The Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue, The University of Texas at Austin: www.utexas.edu/research/cswr/rji/
Parents of Murdered Children: www.pomc.com
Umbreit, Mark. Dancing With the Energy of Conflict and Trauma: Letting Go, Finding Peace in Fami
lies, Communities & Nations. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
Umbreit, Mark & Armour, Marylin. Restorative Dialogue: An Essential for Research and Practice. New York: Springer Publishing, 2010.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dorothy Van Soest is a writer, social worker, political and community activist, as well as a retired professor and university dean who holds an undergraduate degree in English literature and a Masters and Ph.D. in Social Work. She is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington with a research-based publication record of nine books and over fifty journal articles, essays, and book chapters that tackle complex and controversial issues related to violence, oppression, and injustice. Just Mercy was informed by her widely acclaimed investigation of the lives of thirty-seven men who were executed by Texas in 1997 and inspired by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue program. Dorothy Van Soest lives in Seattle, Washington where she is currently working on her next novel, a mystery that grew out of her experiences with the child welfare system. Her website is www.dorothyvansoest.com/
Apprentice House is the country’s only campus-based, student-staffed book publishing company. Directed by professors and industry professionals, it is a nonprofit activity of the Communication Department at Loyola University Maryland.
Using state-of-the-art technology and an experiential learning model of education, Apprentice House publishes books in untraditional ways. This dual responsibility as publishers and educators creates an unprecedented collaborative environment among faculty and students, while teaching tomorrow’s editors, designers, and marketers.
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Table of Contents
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TEN
ELEVEN
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THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
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NINETEEN
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TWENTY-EIGHT
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THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
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THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR