Rap Rhyme, Prison Time: How Prosecutors Use Rap Evidence in Gang Cases (original) (raw)

2024, Chapman Law Review 27(2):369-404

In rap on trial cases, prosecutors frequently introduce lyrics and videos as evidence of gang association, membership, or participation to help secure convictions and gang enhancements —a practice we call gang affiliation through rap misrepresentation. For the accused, the consequences of this practice can be severe: Gang enhancements can substantially increase the length of sentences, including the imposition of indeterminate life sentences or, in first degree murder cases, life without the possibility of parole and even the death penalty. In this Article, we call for greater nuance and careful treatment of rap-related evidence in the courtroom, which includes recognizing rap’s history, conventions, and practices generally, and acknowledging rap’s complicated and complex intersection with gangs specifically. Greater nuance and more careful treatment will enable courtroom members, including judges and jurors, to make better informed evaluations regarding whether rap evidence, despite being prejudicial, is sufficiently probative and if so, what relevance it may have to the case. We preface this argument with a review of punitive policies and practices associated with gangs in the criminal justice system, and with a discussion of how prosecutors use rap evidence in actual gang-related rap on trial cases. We conclude with recommendations