Prosecuting Rap Workshop
| Dates: | 16 October 2015 |
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| Times: | All day |
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| What is it: | Workshop |
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| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
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Violent rap lyrics are increasingly used as evidence in criminal cases in the US and (to a lesser extent) UK. Prosecutors are eager to use rap verses penned by defendants because the violent lyrics tend to bolster their cases, helping them secure convictions. However, many defence lawyers, civil liberties groups and scholars are alarmed by the proliferation of the legal use of rap as evidence, which is often prejudicial. Supported by the University of Manchester’s Humanities Strategic Investment Fund, this workshop brings UK and US scholars from the fields of Law, Cultural Studies, Criminology, and American Studies together with lawyers and civil liberties representatives to interrogate the rise of the use of rap in legal cases. The workshop will have three themed roundtables:
1) rap lyrics presented by prosecutors as evidence of autobiography and confession of a crime
2) violent rap lyrics presented as evidence of threat or intent to commit crime
3) trends in policing and gang laws that criminalize rap culture.
Travel and Contact Information
