Just Mercy (best-selling book, adapted into a film)

Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of “Just Mercy”, will become the first Lantos Prize Laureate whose work focuses primarily on U.S. domestic human rights issues.

PRESS RELEASE - Lantos Foundation Announces Bryan Stevenson as the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize Recipient

Listen to Bryan Stevenson’s interview on the Lantos Foundation’s podcast, The Keeper.

Bryan Stevenson was awarded the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize for his powerful advocacy work urging the United States to apply the rule of law equally and to deal more honestly and openly with its history of inequality. Mr. Stevenson has worked tirelessly for more than three decades on behalf of incarcerated people who have been wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced.

Upon receiving the Prize, Mr. Stevenson said, “At a moment when our nation faces many challenges but also many opportunities for progress in the long fight for equality, it is both affirming and motivating to know that the Lantos Foundation, an organization with an incredible legacy and vital mission, believes my work is symbolic of the struggle for human rights. Through this Prize, I am grateful to have the fight for equality and justice here in America acknowledged as having a place in the global human rights movement.”

Since 1989, Mr. Stevenson has been executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private, nonprofit law organization he founded that focuses on social justice and human rights in the context of criminal justice reform in the United States. EJI litigates on behalf of condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Stevenson’s work has won him national and international acclaim, including the MacArthur Fellowship Award Prize, the Reebok Human Rights Award, the 1991 ACLU National Medal of Liberty, the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, the Award for Courageous Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Lawyer for the People Award from the National Lawyers Guild. In 2006, he was named the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers. He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Just Mercy, which won the 2015 Carnegie Medal for Best Non-Fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the NAACP Image Award for Best Non-Fiction.

In Just Mercy, Mr. Stevenson wrote, “The true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”

Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation, said of Mr. Stevenson, “His perseverance and dedication to the cause of equality serves as a powerful reminder that the fight for human rights must begin here at home. To maintain the United States’ legitimacy and moral authority as a human rights leader globally, we must be willing to confront our own shortcomings and work with vigor to address them. Mr. Stevenson’s life’s work offers an example of how to do this with dignity and compassion, and the Lantos Prize honors him for more than the pursuit of civil rights – it honors him for a truly defining work of human rights.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize ceremony was postponed, and the Lantos Foundation looks forward to honoring Mr. Stevenson at a ceremony in 2021. More information will be shared as details become available.