Book Review — Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice

The Washington State Law Library has some gems in our collection that may not be new, but are nevertheless relevant to the legal issues of the day. We highlight one of these titles here.

Paul Butler’s Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice is an inspired response to the over incarceration of persons of color in America. Butler, a former federal prosecutor and frequently sought-after scholar on issues of race and criminal justice, offers definitive achievable actions for any citizen involved in the judicial process as a juror, voter, or taxpayer.

One of the first methods Butler suggests for bridging the justice gap is the usage of jury nullification. As he explains, this is already used as a method of subverting prosecutorial heavy-handedness by jurors who don’t want to see another member of a historically marginalized group incarcerated for a non-violent crime. Butler discusses using the method more systematically to protest bad law.

Butler also talks about the overuse of snitches by law enforcement and prosecutors. This unfettered use of tattling has become a corrosive tool which destroys the ties of trust and cooperation within a community. Because of the anonymity of the informants and lack of oversight of their use there are no checks or balances on the process to ensure ethical behavior by all parties.

Because Butler writes from the perspective of a former prosecutor he discusses the problems of changing prosecutorial practices from the inside. The difficulties of making any changes in the charged political environment of criminal law are made clear with several examples of “change-makers” getting derailed in their goals. He points to his own personal attempts to make changes as evidence of this dilemma.

Butler provides a brief overview of findings in neuroscience and discussion of technologies to prevent criminal tendencies and help offenders make better choices. At the time of publication there was not yet sufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness or unintended consequences of these new approaches.

The last chapter includes several fundamental actions to help prevent crime. One idea is paying kids to complete high school. So many of the people who fall into a pattern of criminal conduct do so because legitimate employment is impossible without a high school diploma. Another idea that has shown great promise is actively reintegrating those who have been incarcerated back into their communities. With support from family, friends, employers, church members, and neighbors they are more apt to make better choices and realize how their behavior affects others.

Let’s Get Free is a call to action for anyone dismayed by the disproportionate number of persons of color incarcerated in our country. With its realistic view of the difficulties of change, it sets out definitive tools to make that change happen nonetheless.

If you are interested in checking out Let’s Get Free, contact us at library.requests@courts.wa.gov or 360–357–2136. (LJ)