What kind of society sends young men to jail and ruins lives because of the lyrics in a song? | Ciaran Thapar
Recently, I stood on a raised court podium being cross-examined by a roomful of barristers. I was there as an “expert witness” to the case in hand – a group of young Black men from a small English city charged with conspiracy to possess a firearm – which mostly involved commenting on the extensive use of rap lyrics as evidence.Local police officers had transcribed, translated and interpreted songs and YouTube music videos, many of which had been recorded and released more than five years before the alleged crime, to make…