THE WEEK Rap on Trial: the battle to keep lyrics out of courtrooms

Press/Media: Expert comment

Period25 Jan 2022

Media coverage

1

Media coverage

  • TitleRap on Trial: the battle to keep lyrics out of courtrooms
    Media name/outletThe Week
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date25/01/22
    DescriptionSeparate research from the University of Manchester identified more than 60 cases between the mid-2000s and 2020 where rap music was used by prosecutors “as autobiographical confessions to crimes, threats of violence or proof of gang affiliation”, reported DJ Mag.

    The rise in the use of such alleged evidence in UK courts has coincided with the growing popularity of drill music, according to Eithne Quinn, a senior lecturer at the university and the head of a research project called Prosecuting Rap: Criminal Justice and UK Black Youth Expressive Culture.

    The “heightened moral panic about drill and violence, with all its power and baggage”, is being “pulled into the courtroom”, Quinn told the magazine.
    URLhttps://www.theweek.co.uk/news/crime/955521/rap-on-trial-battle-stop-lyrics-courtrooms
    PersonsEithne Quinn

Keywords

  • rap music
  • justice system
  • drill music