Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice
Professor Paul Butler Discussing Let's Get Free at Busboys and Poets

Recent Events

I am still a prosecutor at heart. I like justice and fair play. This book is about how to get those back. My main concern is you—the law-abiding person. I want to keep you safe and free.

Professor Paul Butler on The PBS Newshour:
How Will Justice Kagan Change the Court's Jurisprudence?

The Newshour

August 5, 2010
PBS Newshour

On August 5, 2010, the Senate confirmed Solicitor General Elena Kagan, former Dean of the Harvard Law School, to become the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States, replacing Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who served for thirty-five years.

Professor Paul Butler joined Newshour correspondent Ray Suarez in conversation with Professor Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz in predicting how Justice Kagan might affect the future of the Supreme Court and the nation's jurisprudence.

Click here to watch the segment in streaming video.

Professor Paul Butler on The PBS Newshour:
High Court Ends Term with Decisions on Handguns, Student Organization Funding

The Newshour

July 5 , 2010
PBS Newshour

The 2009-2010 term was was highly consequential. Citizens United gave corporations more First Amendment rights than they ever have before. Sullivan v. Florida prohibited sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole for non-homicide offenses. And, in McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court, for the first time, invalidated a state law on the basis that it infringed the Second Amendment's right to carry firearms.

Professor Paul Butler joined Newshour correspondent Jeffrey Brown in conversation with Professor Neomi Rao and Tom Goldstein in reviewing the Supreme Court's 2009-2010 term. What does this term's decisions suggest about the Court's future? How influential is Chief Justice John Roberts? How did Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation change the direction of the Court? And how might Elena Kagan change the Court, if confirmed?

Click here to watch the segment in streaming video.

ACS Panel Discussion: 2009-2010 Supreme Court Review

ACS

July 2, 2010
National Press Club, Washington D.C.

The 2009-2010 Supreme Court term just closed, so which results caused a serious change to the law? The American Constitution Society presented an event at which a panel of extraordinary constitutional scholars and litigators discussed the term's most important decisions.

With moderator Tom Goldstein (founder of SCOTUSBlog.com), Professor Paul Bulter was joined by Paul D. Clement (former solicitor general), Doug Kendall (President of the Constitutional Accountability Center); Elisa Massimino (President of Human Rights First), Andrew J. Pincus (Lecuturer at Yale Law School), Virginia A. Seitz (Partner at Sidley Austin LLP), and Monica Youn (Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice).

Click here to watch streaming video of the event.

Professor Paul Butler on Tell Me More
Berghius v. Thompkins: Speak Up to Remain Silent

June 2nd, 2010
Tell Me More, NPR News, Washington D.C.

NPR: Tell Me More

On June 1st, the Supreme Court declared that, in order to assert one's "Miranda" rights (including one's right to silence), one must affirmatively assert his invocation of that right. In other words, the Court decided that one had to speak up to remain silent.

In Berghuis v. Thompkins (full opinion), a suspect was detained and interrogated by police. The suspect was informed of his right to remain silent, and he remained silent, refusing to speak for hours, but never affirmatively asserting his Miranda rights. The interrogiation continued and, finally, when an officer asked the defendant whether he would pray to be forgiven for committing the crime, the defendant said that he would. This statement was used as evidence against him at trial. The Supreme Court affirmed the use of the statement.

Professor Paul Butler joined Michelle Martin on NPR's Tell Me More to discuss the issue. In the segment, Butler explains the ruling, especially highlting Justice Sotomayor's dissenting opinion, which notes that the decision runs counter to the original purpose of requiring Miranda warnings. Butler also explains why the dissenting vote of Sotomayor, a former prosecutor, might be a good sign for liberals.

Download the audio here, or stream below.


Professor Paul Butler on The Takeaway:
Arizona's Immigration Law Shifts Burden of Proof

The Takeaway

April 27, 2010
WNYC Public Radio, New York City, NY

On April 23, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which requires police officers to stop and question anyone that they have reasonable suspicion to believe is an illegal immigrant to the United States. Critics say they believe that this law will lead to wide spread racial profiling. The law also seems to shift the burden of proof onto the defense instead of the prosecution in a country where pratcially everyone knows the term, "innocent until proven guilty."

Professor Paul Butler gave his analysis of whether the bill is constitutional under current search and seizure doctrine, and whether this Supreme Court might tweak the law in order to uphold the regulation.

An MP3 of Professor Butler's appearance is available for download or streaming below.



Debate with Kurt Schmoke: Should Good People Be Prosecutors?

March 29 , 2010
Howard Law School, Washington, DC

Should good people be prosecutors? Professor Paul Butler argues that they should not because America's criminal justice system fails to achieve justice.

On March 29, 2010, Butler debated with the issue with Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Balitmore and Maryland state attorney, and currently Howard Law School's Dean.

Click here to stream the video on C-Span now!

Tell Me More: Let's Get Free, A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice

Tell Me MoreNovember 19, 2009
Tell Me More, NPR Public Radio

After sharing some of his favorite hip-hop songs, Professor Paul Butler discussed the hip-hop theory of justice; he explained how rappers, unlike any other media figures, have the best perspective to comment on American criminal law. He also discussed overincarceration and jury nullification. Professor Butler also discussed the current state of American criminal law and the progress that some states have made in reducing incarceration rates while decreasing crime.

In the interview, Michele referenced Professor Butler's most recent article published in The Nation magazine, Ten Things You Can Do to Reduce Incarceration.

An MP3 of his appearance is available for download or streaming below.


In Your Ear: Professor Butler Discusses Hip-Hop & Criminal Law

Tell Me MoreNovember 19, 2009
Tell Me More, NPR Public Radio

In this In Your Ear segment on Michel Martin's Tell Me More NPR News Program, Professor Paul Butler finally realized his life-long dream of being a music critic on NPR!

Paul discusses some of the songs that he's listening to now, such as Lil' Wayne's Misunderstood, which features an extended monologue about overincarceration, KRS-One's Sound of da Police, an old-school track in which KRS criticizes police authority and practice, and Erykah Badu's Danger, which describes how family members of incarcerated persons "do time on the outside."

An MP3 of his appearance is available for download or streaming below.


Should Good People Be Prosecutors?

New York University School of Law

October 28, 2009
NYU School of Law, New York City, NY

At the the October 28 installment of the NYU Law Forum, Professor Paul Butler and Anthony Barkow, executive director for the NYU School of Law’s Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, discussed the topic of one chapter of Professor Paul Butler's book, Let's Get Free: "Should good people be prosecutors?"

Butler argued that, because prosecutors enforce unjust policies and depend on unjust police actions, Butler argues that the efforts of good people would be wasted as prosecutors. Barkow disagreed, responding that line prosecutors can and do make discretionary decisions that allow them to work within the law to have influential voices in cases; he argues that “the line prosecutors making all these discretionary decisions are really kind of driving the bus most of the time.”

Click here to view streaming video of the event.

C-Span's Book TV at the Chicago Tribune's LitFest

Book TV on S-Span 2

Filmed June 7, 2009

Aired July 11, 2009 on C-Span 2, Book TV

Chicago Tribune's LitFest, Chicago, IL

The Chicago Tribune's Printers Row Lit Fest is an outdoor book festival that offers all comers the opportunity to hear authors speak and debate their works.

Professor Paul Butler was featured in discussion with Professor Geoffrey R. Stone, professor of law and The University of Chicago Law School. At this event, Butler discussed how putting more people in prison causes rather than prevents crime, how snitches decrease confidence in the criminal jusice system, how decriminilazation of drugs will decrease both crime rates and drug use, and how jury nullification can help prevent the overincarceration crisis.

Thanks to C-Span 2's BookTV, video of the event is available for download or for streaming below. If streaming, please be patient; the file is large and may take some time to preload.

Click here to view streaming video of the event.

Center for American Progress

Center for American Progress

July 1, 2009
Center for American Progress, Washington, DC

At this event, presented by The Center for American Progress, Pulitizer Prize winning journalist Clarence Page moderated a discussion by Professor Paul Butler and Prince George's County's State's Attorney Glenn Ivey. The three discussed the cutting ege criminal justice issues analyzed and proposals outlined in Professor Butler's book, Let's Get Free, including the "don't be a snitch" movement new solutions to violent crime and jury nullification. Those who attended were fortunate to see these two former classmates from Harvard Law School engage each other on criminal law and justice issues.

Click here to stream video of the event, or, alternatively, download the video.

The Archive: Other Appearances by Professor Paul Butler