This year’s Go Big Read book impacted more than just the 5,000 students who received a copy at the Chancellor’s Convocation, as area law enforcement read Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy.”
Stevenson, who gave a campus lecture Monday on the impacts of race and mass incarceration, visited recruits training at the Madison Police Department, according to a Tuesday blog post by MPD Chief Mike Koval.
This past summer, Madison police directed recruits to read the award-winning book before their training began.
Koval said Stevenson had never thought about using his book as a learning tool for recruits, but was excited to work with police.
“Just Mercy chronicles how justice has decidedly different outcomes for those who are persons of color and poor than those who have means,” Koval wrote. “Stevenson has spent his entire adult life acting as an advocate for the voiceless.”
Koval said Stevenson’s emphasis on law enforcement being “guardians” and not “warriors” resonated with him.
UW-Madison police have also used “Just Mercy” in training sessions on impartial policing, according to UW Police Chief Sue Riseling.
“I’ve dedicated my life to working in this system that is so profoundly flawed,” she said in a Sept. 10 statement. “I personally found the book, at times, very gut-wrenching.”
