About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

104 Geo. L.J. 1419 (2015-2016)
The System Is Working the Way It Is Supposed to: The Limits of Criminal Justice Reform

handle is hein.journals/glj104 and id is 1436 raw text is: ARTICLES The System Is Working the Way It Is Supposed to: The Limits of Criminal Justice Reform PAUL BUTLER* Ferguson has come to symbolize a widespread sense that there is a crisis in American criminal justice. This Article describes various articu- lations of what the problems are and poses the question of whether law is capable of fixing these problems. I consider the question theoretically by looking at claims that critical race theorists have made about law and race. Using Supreme Court cases as examples, I demonstrate how some of the problems described in the U.S. Justice Department's Ferguson report, like police violence and widespread arrests of African-Americans for petty offenses, are not only legal, but integral features of policing and punishment in the United States. They are how the system is supposed to work. The conservatives on the Court are aware, and intend, that the expansive powers they grant the police will be exercised primarily against African-American men. I then consider the question of reform using empirical analysis of one of the most popular legal remedies: pattern or practice investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice. Some reforms are stopgap measures that provide limited help but fail to bring about the transformation demanded by the strongest articulations of the crisis. In fact, in some ways, reform efforts impede transformation. I conclude by imagining the wholesale transformation necessary to fix the kinds of problems articulated by the Movement for Black Lives. * Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center. © 2016, Paul Butler. This Article was substantially improved by careful reading and/or thoughtful comments from Amna Akbar, David Cole, Sharon Dolovich, Justin Hansford, Adam Levitin, Allegra McLeod, Tracey Meares, Andrea Roth, Carol Steiker, Peter Tague, and Tom Tyler. Earlier drafts were presented as works in progress at the University of Alabama Law School, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Fordham Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Northwestern Law School, and at the Criminal Justice Roundtable at Stanford Law School. I thank all the participants in those sessions, especially Sheila Bedi, Russell Pearce, Gary Peller, Catherine Powell, Stephen Rushin, David Sklansky, and Deborah Tuerkheimer. Exemplary research assistance was provided by Eric Glatt, Suraj Kumar, and Daniel Walsh. Thanks to the members of The Georgetown Law Journal, especially V. Noah Gimbel, Catherine Mullarney, and Dani Zylberberg. Last but not least, I am grateful to Dean Bill Treanor for a summer research grant that supported the writing of this Article. 1419

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most