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Art Not Evidence: Issues and Implications of Prosecuting Rap
April 30, 2024 @ 3:30 pm - 7:00 pm
The Art Not Evidence campaign launched at the end of 2023 to advocate for a restriction on the use of creative expression as evidence in criminal trials. The campaign addresses the criminalisation of rap music, including the increasing use of lyrics and music videos as evidence against young people accused of crime. By disregarding the culture and conventions of the genre, and by asking courts and juries to take the music literally, police and prosecutors not only undermine the positive aspects of rap, denying its status as an art form and stifling creativity, but also perpetuate harmful racist stereotypes and create a risk of wrongful conviction.
Across two sessions, we will hear from experts on the cultural significance of rap music and the issues and implications of prosecuting rap, including: colonial legacies in the criminalisation of drill music; use of drill music in ‘joint enterprise’ trials and to construct gang narratives; the need to instruct expert witnesses; Criminal Behaviour Orders to restrict the creation of music; and the implications for freedom of expression.
The event will provide information and insight for anyone interested in the criminal justice response to rap and popular culture, and the current efforts for legal reform. It will also provide practical information and tools for those who work in the criminal legal system, music industry, or who create (or support those who create) music.
A drinks reception will follow this Event.
We’re thrilled to have you join us for our upcoming event! We encourage all participants to fully immerse themselves in the experience by attending both sessions. To ensure you don’t miss out on any valuable content, please remember to register for both sessions.
However, If you’re unable to commit to both sessions, you’re still welcome to register for just one.
Session 1 and Session 2 have now sold out. If you would like to attend, please join the waiting lists by following the registration links below. Please note, you will need to join the waiting list for each session you wish to attend.
Session 1 – 3.30-5pm
Adèle Oliver – Considering Colonial Legacies in the Criminalisation of UK Drill
Adèle Oliver is the author of ‘Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture and Criminalisation of UK Drill‘, which intervenes on factually inaccurate, dishonest and unfocused discourse on drill and its apparent link to knife crime and gang violence, redefining drill as a bona fide artform and placing it in its proper context of Black art, colonialism, and more.
Eithne Quinn – Compound Injustice: A review of cases involving rap music evidence in England and Wales
Eithne Quinn is a professor of cultural studies at the University of Manchester who has served as a rap expert in criminal cases since 2008. She leads the project Prosecuting rap: criminal justice and UK Black youth expressive culture, co-authored the report Racial bias and the bench: a response to the Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2022) and authored the book Nuthin’ but a G thang: the culture and commerce of gangsta rap (Columbia University Press, 2005).
Nisha Waller – The Conviction-Maximising Role of ‘Gang’ Narratives and Drill Music in ‘Joint Enterprise’ Trials
Nisha Waller is a final year PhD candidate at the University of Oxford, Centre for Criminology, and researcher at legal charity APPEAL. Nisha’s research focuses on racialised processes of prosecution in the context of ‘joint enterprise’.
Break – 5-5.30pm
Session 2 – 5.30-7pm
Audrey Cherryl Mogan – On Expert Evidence
Audrey Cherryl Mogan is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers practicing in criminal law and related areas of civil liberties. She has particular expertise defending victims of modern slavery, children and protestors and was named Legal Aid Newcomer of the Year in 2021.
Danielle Manson – Criminal Behaviour Orders: A Purge on Drill?
Danielle Manson is a criminal defence barrister who practises primarily in serious crime. She has particular expertise representing children and young people and has appeared as a lead junior and single advocate in cases of murder, attempted murder, rape, serious violence, fraud, the sale and supply of drugs and firearms offences, as well as appearing in both the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Owen Greenhall – Rap: Crime, Contempt and Article 10
Owen Greenhall is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers with a broad practice covering criminal law and related areas of civil liberties. He has a specific interest in protest law and the right to Freedom of Expression and has acted in many of the leading cases in recent years.
Chairs
Abenaa Owusu-Bempah, LSE
Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah is Associate Professor of criminal law and criminal evidence. Her scholarship focuses on criminal procedure, the law of evidence and criminal law, with a particular emphasis on fair trial rights. She is author of the book, Defendant Participation in the Criminal Process (2017, Routledge). Abenaa’s current research focuses on the admissibility and use of rap music as evidence in criminal trials.
Keir Monteith KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Keir Monteith KC is a highly sought-after leading silk who represents clients facing heavyweight criminal allegations. He has been instructed in numerous murders, industrial scale Class A drug importations and conspiracies, escape from custody cases and appeals against conviction and sentence. Keir is ranked for criminal law in Chambers UK and the Legal 500. He is also ranked in Tier 1 for Fraud in the Legal 500 2024. Keir also sits as a Recorder (part-time Crown Court judge) and is a training tutor for the Judicial College. Keir co-authored the report ‘Racial Bias and the Bench’ as a Simon Fellow at the University of Manchester, with Professor Eithne Quinn of the University of Manchester. Keir is now an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester. He is also a writer, campaigner and a founding member of ANE.
Hosted by LSE and Garden Court Chambers
