Police Violence Against Black Men Subject of New Book by Georgetown Law Professor

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July 18, 2017 – Paul Butler, the Albert Brick Professor at Georgetown Law, is the author of a recently published book that shows police violence against men of color in America is widespread and regularly supported by judges and politicians.
The New Press published the book, Chokehold: Policing Black Men, earlier this month.
Butler, a former federal prosecutor with scholarly expertise in criminal law and racial justice, talks below about how the criminal justice system harms black men and makes recommendations for change.
How would you describe this book to someone who has no knowledge of the history of race in America?
Chokehold is a book about black men and how the law treats us. It’s about state violence against black men, including violence by the police, but I also interrogate violence by black men, mainly against each other. The idea is that many of the problematic features of U.S. criminal justice — mass incarceration, erosion of civil liberties and brutal policing — are based on fear of African-American men. In the criminal context, the Supreme Court has given the police what I call “super powers,” with the understanding that these powers are to be deployed against African-American men. I look at cases in which the Court gives the police extraordinary power to arrest, to use force — including deadly force — and to racially profile. If these powers were deployed against anyone else but African-American men, there would be widespread concern. But because these powers are used mainly against African-American men — and because our society has all these concerns and fear about African-American men — I don't think that this extraordinary police power has received the attention it deserves.
Was there one specific impetus for the book? Or has this been gradually taking shape in your mind?
When I was at law school [at Harvard] I knew I wanted to be a public interest lawyer ...

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