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 Chokehold Paul Butler was an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Harvard Law grad who gave up his corporate law salary to fight the good fightâuntil 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 âa must-read,â Butler looks at places where ordinary citizens meet the justice systemâas jurors, witnesses, and in encounters with the policeâand explores what âdoing the right thingâ 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 methodsâjury nullification (voting ânot guiltyâ in drug cases as a form of protest), just saying ânoâ when the police request your permission to search, and refusing to work inside the system as a snitch or a prosecutorâordinary people can tip the system towards actual justice. Letâs Get Free is an evocative, compelling look at the steps we can collectively take to reform our broken system.
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