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  Chuck D, of legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy, with his copy of Professor Butler's Let's Get Free. "Lets Get Free is destined to make us all think in new ways about the concept of justice, the role of hip-hop in American culture, and the power that everyday people have to shape and influence their environment." "A provocative and intelligent analysis of U.S. justice. Paul 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." "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."
"In his new book Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Criminal Justice, Butler, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, makes a comprehensive, persuasive, readable case for intelligent reform across the criminal justice system. He takes on all of the major issues, from mass incarceration and the drug war to the “stop snitching”campaigns that have sprouted in many cities. Taken together, Butler’s proposals would make more Americans safe from crime, and at the same time guarantee a fairer and more just system of law enforcement and prosecution. Given the cluster of knotty and difficult issues at the intersection of crime and race in America, coming up with ideas that could realistically accomplish this is no small feat; for that reason alone, Butler’s book is no small achievement.... We need more books like this one. We face daunting and difficult problems in this country, across the spectrum of social issues... Unless we can stir ourselves to pay attention to thoughtful critics like Paul Butler, we are headed off a cliff. It’s time to heed his alarm." "Let's Get Free is extraordinary – Paul Butler is a wonderful writer and tells a compelling story about his days as a prosecutor and his own improbable arrest and trial... He has taken his scholarly agenda (which as many of us know has landed him impressive placements in law reviews) and rendered it readable. He weaves high level traditional theory, data, narrative, very candid self-critique, and insights from hip-hop... [Butler's] critique of our current system... is fabulous – primarily because Butler is so brutally honest about his own experience and his own complicity in what he now considers to be a failed system. "Paul Butler’s arrest and prosecution [detailed in the first chapter of Let's Get Free] transformed his thinking about
crime and punishment, and Let’s Get Free is his effort to cajole the nation
into a similar transformation. [H]e
argues that his proposals should be adopted because they will make all of
us - including the law-abiding majority - better off.
This assertion - that punitive crime policy hurts not just criminals but "Butler's opinions invite controversy with regard to the function of prosecutors in our justice system... Butler makes a strong argument that something needs to be done to reduce America's dependence on the incarceration of non-violent offenders... Mr. Butler persuades the reader that the path to justice starts with their actions. Regardless of your politics, this book will increase your understanding of why there is a movement afoot to reduce the amount of non-violent people incarcerated in prisons, and what options exist for the every day citizen to help transform the current system." "Three recent books by scholars who happen to be black men eloquently attest to these broader effects of the racial disparities in our criminal justice system... George Washington University law professor Paul Butler expresses the personal character of this issue most urgently... Butler offers a broader set of proposals [that are] eminently sensible." "Perhaps the Most Riveting First Chapter I Have Ever Read... [Professor Paul Butler] details a remarkable story that he has never publicly told: That when he was a federal prosecutor at the Justice Department... he himself was arrested, charged, and went to trial for simple assault... Paul's retelling of the story — and his reflections on why he was arrested and why he was able to mount a successful defense — make for truly riveting reading... Whatever your views, [Let's Get Free] really should be required reading for law students interested in the criminal justice system." "Let's Get Free offer[s] useful analyses and original suggestions regarding the debate about how best to incarcerate fewer people. It's a debate that should have begun years ago." "Let's Get Free is an insider's guide to how the criminal-justice system aids and abets the maintenance of hyper-segregated communities and the violence in them, the creation and maintenance of apartheid schools systems, the explicit creation of racially inflected policing and system of mass incarceration, and finally, the creation and maintenance of a system of fundamental inequality in America, particularly in its urban cores. Paul Butler does us a service by putting this truth on the table and for even suggesting some ways we might actually free ourselves." "Paul Butler’s new book Let’s Get Free is essential reading for those who care about American criminal justice, prosecutorial power, and doing justice from inside the system. It is also a beautiful rarity for a book of big scholarly ideas: page-turning reading. The writing hums with the rhythm, flow, and narrative of hip hop at its best—one of the inspirations for an intriguing chapter and the book's subtitle: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice. The intimate portrait of the prosecutor and the criminal justice system that Paul presents is an important contribution to the literature penetrating the opacity of prosecutorial power, practices and pressures." "The legendary Paul Butler ... is everything you've always heard him to be - and most of all, he is a criminal justice expert. His unique experiences and unique ideas shaped by those experiences make his new book, Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice, a welcome addition to the catalog of criminal law scholarship." "In Let’s Get Free, Paul Butler, associate dean at The George Washington Law School, offers an intriguing volume exploring the major ailments of the American criminal justice system. ... "Let’s Get Free” serves as a building block for future scholarship and conversations about racial issues affecting real people." "Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, makes a clear case for what ails our criminal justice system... While some of his suggestions will certainly prove controversial, we can hope that this timely book leads to more dialog and to change. Required reading for all concerned about their neighborhoods and our criminal justice system." "In Let's Get Free, Professor Paul Butler outlines a better way. His most controversial idea is advocating jury nullification, a juror’s right to disregard the evidence and vote 'not guilty' if prosecution seems unfair... [T]his act of civil disobedience will send the message that the U.S. has gone too far in its lock ’em up culture." "Butler surprises over and over. It's a very creative way through the territory: fundamentally original. How many law school deans/federal prosecutors are going to come out in support of the baltimore Stop Snitchin' movement? Butler's discussion is remarkably nuanced but also excellent common sense." "Highly recommended!.. Remember this book the next time that you or a family member sit on a jury. Consider the punishment to be imposed on the defendant and how it relates to the crime. Society might best be served by ... voting not guilty because the punishment does not fit the crime!" "Even though I had 4 books to read before this one, I tore into [Let's Get Free] and read it over a few days... This book is extremely provocative. Several times throughout I just had to say “Are you crazy?” about the ideas [Professor Butler] mentions, but, once I read through his reasoning in saying what he does about snitching, drug laws, and jury nullification, I have to agree. He does make sense." "[In Let's Get Free,] his inspirational and somewhat subversive book... Professor Paul Butler outlines legislative ways that have long been acknowledged – focus resources on education and rehabilitation. He also calls for the individual to work the system (since the system isn't working) through the completely legal practice of jury nullification in cases involving nonviolent drug offenses." "In Let’s Get Free, Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and now law professor at George Washington University, makes several solid recommendations...Will any of this work? Some or all of it might just work if the country’s attitude towards crime, and Americans who commit crimes, can be one of rehabilitation rather than one of punishment." |
