Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice [Hardcover]

Paul Butler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2009

"Paul Butler utilizes his years as a prosecutor and law teacher to dramatically describe this country's war on crime as one encouraging what it seeks to eliminate, corrupting those commissioned to enforce its laws and, in the process, ruining more lives than it protects. Butler conveys this tragedy with a wry humor and through a careful review of studies, experience, and insight."
--Derrick Bell, author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well and visiting professor at NYU Law School

"A provocative and intelligent analysis of U.S. justice. Butler has a fresh and thought-provoking perspective on issues like the war on drugs, snitches, and whether locking so many people up really makes Americans safer. Butler's compelling writing makes Let's Get Free a great read, and his insightful analysis has the potential to make the United States a more just society."
--Anthony D. Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union

"Let's Get Free is a tour de force. This book is provocative and informative and creates a cross-generational dialogue that will enrich all those who read it. It helps us understand the complexity of crime and the need to moderate punishment. This is a good read and a must read."
--Charles J, Ogletree Jr., author of When Law Fails, professor of law at Harvard and the executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice

Paul Butler was an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Harvard Law grad who traded in his corporate law salary to fight the good fight. It was those years on the front lines that convinced him that the American criminal justice system is fundamentally broken--it's not making the streets safer, nor helping the people he'd hoped, as a prosecutor, to protect.

In Let's Get Free, Butler, now an award-winning law professor, looks at several places where ordinary citizens interact with the justice system--as jurors, crime witnesses, and in encounters with the police--and explores what "doing the right thing" means in a corrupt system.

Butler's provocative proposals include jury nullification--voting "not guilty" in certain non-violent cases as a form of protest, just saying "no" when the police request your permission to search, and refusing to work inside the criminal justice system. And his groundbreaking "hip-hop theory of justice" reveals an important analysis of crime and punishment found in pop culture.

Chock full of great stories and cutting-edge analysis, this accessible and lively critique will change the way you think about crime and punishment in the United States. As Butler eloquently argues, when we end mass incarceration and excessive police power, everyone wins. Let's Get Free offers a powerful new vision of justice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A former federal prosecutor, Paul Butler is the country's leading expert on jury nullification. He provides legal commentary for CNN, NPR, and the Fox News Network, and has been featured on 60 Minutes, and profiled in the Washington Post. He has written for the Post, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times, and is a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Let's Get Free is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595583297
• ISBN-13: 978-1595583291
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #731,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars We Shall Overcome August 15, 2009

By C. W. Day

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a former student of Professor Paul Butler, I was not surprised to find his book refreshing in its candor, raw in its emotion, and revolutionary in its outlook. At bottom, Professor Butler's analysis is grounded in the radical notion that the government should respect people's right to be secure in their persons and property, a right formerly enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Even more fundamentally, he argues that we should re-embrace freedom in this country in ways that range from not incarcerating nonviolent offenders to decriminalizing drugs. Our prisons, he points out, have made our lives more dangerous by serving to indoctrinate nonviolent offenders in the ways of violent crime. Not only are we squandering lives that might otherwise be productive, but we are also creating a contempt for law not seen since Prohibition and extending police power in a manner not consistent with a free society.

Ironically, Butler points out that prosecutorial bullying coupled with the indiscriminate use of paid informants ("snitches") has radically undermined the rule of law. Indiscriminate prosecution leads to a fatalistic attitude in some communities that come to regard prosecution more as an inevitable misfortune than an avoidable sanction. Paid informants not only undermine community trust and generate false information, but they also allow some of the worst offenders to carry on a life of crime in the knowledge that the police will protect and excuse their paid informers.

As the book's title suggests, Butler derives a series of principles for approaching the problems of criminal justice that are derived from hip hop culture. No disrespect, but I am about as familiar with hip hop as I am with Russian folk dancing, which is to say, not very.... Yet given the immediacy of a genre like hip hop on today's streets and among today's youth, it is all the more necessary to read books like Butler's that serve as a bridge to new ideas. Butler's ideas about selective noncooperation with the police may raise an eyebrow in some, but mostly they constitute standard advice for anyone on the wrong end of an inquiry by law enforcement: do not consent to a search, ask for a lawyer, say nothing more until you have one. Even Butler's signature advocacy of jury nullification in cases of non-violent drug offenses is hardly a notion that would shock James Madison.

Later in the book, Butler raises questions about the possible uses of technology in providing alternatives to mass incarceration. However, he does not attempt to answer them, much less address the broad implications of placing intrusive monitoring devices in the hands of the bullying police and prosecutors he so eloquently decries elsewhere. Such a discussion deserves at least a book of its own, preferably one that examines the commoditization of information technology as a counterweight to Big Brother.

Butler concludes the book with a series of suggestions for citizen action with which anyone who believes we can shape our culture by improving our environment should find themselves in immediate sympathy. While in some ways a pastiche of personal memoir, social analysis, legal primer, and citizen handbook, this book is a compelling read and a call to action for anyone who has ever had a moment's concern about crime or racial justice in America. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Punishment is one possible route, not the goal July 4, 2010

By Mona G. Affinito

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fortunately C.W. Day has given a detailed review of Butler's book. That helps a lot, because I'm having trouble knowing where to start in expressing appreciation for it. What I want to know is why there are so few reviews? This is important! It should have a wide audience.

So why did I give it only four stars rather than five? Because I take issue with the statement on page 124, "Punishment should be the point of criminal justice, but it should be limited by the impact it has on the entire community." Everything he's said in the book would lead me to assume he has a different goal. As an enthusiast for the Restorative Practices movement, I believe, and I infer that he really believes as well, that punishment may serve a goal of individual and social justice, but is not a goal in itself. That takes us right back to the damage done by the focus on retribution, inflicting pain for pain, which has led us to the "Get tough on crime" thing in the first place. As he so aptly points out, getting "tough on crime" is nothing of the sort. It's "getting tough on criminals," which, as he points out, has the effect of increasing crime. On page 19 he says, "There is a tipping point at which crime increases if too many people are incarcerated. The United States is past this point. If we lock up fewer people, we will be safer." This point is elaborated on p. 25 by his pointing out that "Now, the United States has the largest rate of incarceration in the history of the free world."

Interestingly, evidence from sources other than Butler's book suggests that the rate of imprisonment is directly related to the decision to privatize prisons. I recall a friend of mine - a former state administrator of probation - saying at the time, "Just watch.... The rate of imprisonment will go up now that private ownership has to fill the beds." Toward the end of his book, Butler reflects on the advantage of alternatives like electronic monitoring. I was interested that he noted that these devices are produced by private enterprise. Given the importance of economics in our culture, perhaps this will be an opportunity to increase the involvement of private enterprise in a positive way - sort of the equivalent of green industry.

I learned so much from this book, some of which hit me like, "Of course, I knew that." His summary account of the effects of excessive incarceration makes a lot of sense when elaborated. Here I'd like just to list the points, referring you to his pages 32-33.
* The "replacement effect:" the vacancy created by imprisonment gets filled by someone else.
* Mass incarceration disrupts families.
* It changes the way people think about crime - young men expect that at some point they'll do time, a kind of rite of passage that reduces respect for the law.
* It's extremely difficult for a released felon to find employment.
* And it's very expensive: (p.34) Sixty billion dollars is the amount that the United States spends on prisons and jails every year. This does not include the costs of police and the courts.

Again, in the class of "Of course, I should have known that," (see pages 112-118) "Like other politicians, prosecutors pander to voters. In the majority of jurisdictions, this means promising to get tough on crime, which translates to locking more people up. There are few risks to being overaggressive - even when prosecutors cross the line. Since 1976, approximately 120 people who received death sentences were later found to be innocent. In all these cases, prosecutors were responsible for these wrongful convictions. The number of prosecutors who have been disciplined for these egregious miscarriages of Justice? Zero.
By contrast, the line prosecutor who goes against the "get tough" ethos too forcefully not only risks losing her job but also risks causing her boss to lose his.

But what was really new to me was the option of Jury Nullification. (p.61) "When a jury disregards the evidence and acquits an otherwise guilty defendant, it has practiced jury nullification. The jury is saying that the law is unfair, either generally or in this particular case. The jury's decision is totally legal - indeed, the practice of jury nullification is a proud part of U.S. constitutional history."

I'm trying to avoid getting carried away, but my next-to-the-last point is to refer to his two goals on p. 120. "Let's say we have two goals. First, we seek to reduce incarceration substantially. Our specific goal here is to return the United States to incarcerating "only" 1,750,000 people rather than the current 2.3 million. Our second objective is a major reduction in racial disparity in incarceration. The numerical goal here is to reduce the current eight-to-one black-white disparity to three-to-one, which is closer to the average black-white disparities in other measure of economic and social well-being"

Finally, to get personal. One hopes that the disparity won't be decreased by increasing the number of "white" prisoners. I have seen the broad effects on the imprisonment of one (white) prisoner I care about. Having been on medical leave from work for a year in treatment for Hepatitis C, the latter six months of which consisted of treatment with interferon/Rebetol and Trzadone to treat depression caused by the interferon, he had completed the interferon injections but continued the Trzadone and had been back at work for two weeks. On a Sunday afternoon he consumed four beers between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. As he reports, "My last conscious memory was about 5:30. From that point on I was in a chemically induced blackout. My next real memory is coming to in the emergency room in ... and being informed that I had caused a crash that had ended the life of two children."

After release from the hospital and three weeks at home, he admitted himself to a hospital, suffering deep depression over the lives he had taken. He was not allowed to communicate to the family his deep grief. [The latter prohibition is, I believe, part of victim protection.] Advised by his lawyer to plead guilty, he was sentenced to 12 years, six for each child. At no point did he do anything but accept full responsibility for his youthful behavior that led to the Hepatitis C or for the accident. On the other hand, the judge was never presented with the information about his medical condition. Nor was the judge aware that he had no priors, confusing his record with that of his son.

At a future time, another lawyer prepared a brief making those two things clear. The Judge refused to review it. He has now been in prison since 2005, during which time his marriage has ended in divorce, the son with the priors fell off the wagon, his elderly mother, single and living alone, has suffered major health problems, from open-heart surgery to back surgery to near blindness, and many things in between, rendering her incapable of leaving home on her own. In prison he has become an instructor in the restorative practices course, earned enough credits to be close to an Associates degree, and contributed his knowledge to the prison's computer system. And at his most recent hearing he was denied parole.

p.s. He was not allowed to accept the book I sent him for his birthday, even though it was shrink-wrapped and sent directly from Border's Books. Nor was he allowed to receive a self-addressed stamped envelope from me so he could send me a letter.

Yes, I think this is a perfect example of the futility of incarceration. This man is in no way a violent person, trying his best to care for his family from the confines of the prison. There is nothing to be learned about accepting guilt or "going straight." If nothing else, electronic monitoring would make it possible for him to care for his mother.

I hope this latter story is acceptable to the author as an example of the points he is making. At the very least, I hope it's clear that I strongly urge that more people read the book. Read more ›

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Relevant May 25, 2009

By Julian

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I must say -- I'm only halfway through the book but thus far this is a riveting read. Butler provides an inside look at the criminal justice system and provides some really interesting insights as well as alternative viewpoints on the topic.

I've rarely said this about any book, but this is one of the most relevant books Americans could read right now. Very highly recommended!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard-hitting, lucid, riveting March 29, 2010

By Robert R. Perkinson

Format:Hardcover

I was half asleep when I picked up this book, but I was wide awake by the end of the introduction. Then I kept going. Wow. Lucidly written and vigorously argued, it combines hard-hitting political analysis with honest self-reflection. It's both insightful and fresh. Really an important, readable book. Give it to your friends. Let's Get Free!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LET'S GET FREE: A HIP-HIP THEORY OF JUSTICE December 23, 2009

By Christopher Alleyne

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great book that should be required reading for anyone seeking a career in the justice system.
Mr Butler book should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!! June 18, 2013

By Doug Norwood

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Good insight into the world of minority prosecution. Not to mention insight on how the people there to "protect" us, seem at times, no matter your color or race, to hurt us the most. You can tell it's written from truth, and real life experiences. Not some hidden agenda.

5.0 out of 5 stars We all need to address this problem in our society March 22, 2013

By Gregory P. Johnson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Was never a big fan of Hip-Hop so the title threw me. The book was not about Hip-Hop, but a tremendous problem in the USA with our human capital. I spoke with a Federal prosecutor about why we imprison the largest percentage of our population than any civilized nation. He acknowledged the problem and acknowledged that our leaders will not take the political risk of doing something about it and appearing soft on crime.

This book includes data and facts that are alarming. It was well written and the author's personal involvement in the process gives the book a bit of extra authenticity. I am sharing the message with my friends, family and contemporaries.