Rap lyrics and videos are regularly used as prosecution evidence in youth violence criminal cases in England and Wales. The material selected by the state typically has violent themes, often from the popular ‘drill’ rap music genre, and is composed by one or more of the defendants or by one of their friends. This use is deeply controversial because of concerns that rap is an unreliable form of evidence, and that its use is unfairly prejudicial.
In exploratory research, the researchers found 68 cases involving 252 defendants between 2020-2023 in which rap music was used as evidence for serious charges of violence - including murders. The overwhelming majority of the defendants were Black or mixed race.
Our findings are deeply troubling, and support the view that the marshalling of rap evidence in criminal cases encourages police and prosecutors to further increase the number of people charged as secondaries under already-egregious secondary liability laws.