Paul Butler Let's Get Free

Annotation

Radical ideas for changing the justice system, rooted in the real-life experiences of those in overpoliced communities, from the acclaimed former federal prosecutor and author of ChokeholdPaul Butler was an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Harvard Law grad who gave up his corporate law salary to fight the good fightuntil one day he was arrested on the street and charged with a crime he didn't commit.In a book Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree calls ';a must-read,' Butler looks at places where ordinary citizens meet the justice systemas jurors, witnesses, and in encounters with the policeand explores what ';doing the right thing' means in a corrupt system. No matter how powerless those caught up in the web of the law may feel, there is a chance to regain agency, argues Butler. Through groundbreaking and sometimes controversial methodsjury nullification (voting ';not guilty' in drug cases as a form of protest), just saying ';no' when the police request your permission to search, and refusing to work inside the system as a snitch or a prosecutorordinary people can tip the system towards actual justice. Let's Get Free is an evocative, compelling look at the steps we can collectively take to reform our broken system.