Rap music has had a contentious relationship with the legal system, including censorship, regulation, and artists being arrested for lewd and profane performances. More recently, rap lyrics have been introduced by prosecutors in order to establish guilt in criminal trials. Some fear this form of artistic expression will be inappropriately interpreted as literal and threatening, perhaps due to stereotypes. Only a handful of studies have examined whether rap lyrics are evaluated using stereotypes, yet these studies were conducted in the 1990s-a period of heightened scrutiny for rap-and used non-optimal methods. This study presents three experiments that examine the impact of genre-specific stereotypes on the evaluation of violent song lyrics by manipulating the musical genre (rap vs country) while holding constant the actual lyrics. Study 1, a direct replication of previous research, found that participants deemed identical lyrics more literal, offensive, and in greater need of regulation when they were characterized as rap compared to country. Study 2 was a conceptual replication (i.e., same design but different stimuli), and again detected this effect. Study 3 used the same approach but experimentally manipulated the race of the author of the lyrics. A main effect was detected for the genre, with rap evaluated more negatively than country or a control condition with no label. However, no effects were found for the race of the lyrics' author nor were interactions were detected. Collectively, these findings highlight the possibility that rap lyrics could inappropriately impact jurors when admitted as evidence to prove guilt.

In criminal cases, prosecutors treat defendant-authored rap lyrics as an admission of guilt rather than as art or entertainment. Do negative stereotypes about rap music shape jurors' attitudes about the defendant, unfairly influencing outcomes? Replicating and extending previous research (Fischoff, 1999;Fried 1996;Dunbar et al. 2016), the current study begins to address these questions. Using an experimental approach, participants were presented with music lyrics and asked to make judgments about the person who wrote the lyrics. All participants read the same lyrics but were told they were from a country, heavy metal, or rap song, depending upon the condition into which they were randomly assigned. Again using random assignment, participants were provided with information about the race of the songwriter in a photo of a young man. Finally, participants were tasked with judging the character of the songwriter, including traits such as his violent nature and criminal disposition. We find that writers of violent "rap" lyrics are perceived more negatively than writers who pen identical country and heavy metal lyrics. We also find that songwriter race matters; no differences in judgements were detected between the white and black songwriters however when race information was not provided, participants who inferred the songwriter was black judged him more negatively than participants who inferred he was white. These findings have implications for racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

A general shift in U.S. efforts to reduce crime via prevention and rehabilitation juxtaposed with the continued implementation of punitive policies, many of which disproportionately impact Black communities, raises questions about mechanisms underlying crime policy preferences. One concern is that the public is more willing to invest in policing and corrections when those practices are thought to primarily impact people of color. In a set of studies, the current research assesses how people allocate money across a variety of crime policies and evaluates how those decisions are influenced by perceptions of racial disparities in the U.S. prison population. The two studies also explore how support for those budgetary decisions is influenced by concerns about crime. Findings indicate that presenting participants with information about racial disparities in the prison population does not affect policy support, but that attitudes about race still play a role in crime control policy preferences. Findings from Study 1 reveal that participants who believe violent crime is more of a "Black" phenomenon typically invest more into carceral interventions and less into therapeutic interventions. However, this relationship is contingent on the policy options offered (Study 2). Implications for policy debates and future research directions are discussed.

Scholars who study rap music have long expressed concerns that criticism of the genre is inextricably linked to stereotypes of young Black men in the United States. Yet minimal research has empirically examined how rap music is linked to race in ways that legitimize and maintain anti‐Black attitudes, particularly attitudes related to crime. This article reviews how scholars have typically challenged seemingly racialized concerns about rap music before surveying the handful of studies that empirically examine attitudes related to rap music, race, and crime. In so doing, this essay highlights a growing need for broader conceptualizations of race/ethnicity and social control.

For decades, scholars have studied mechanisms that might explain racial disparities in the criminal justice system. One novel example of a practice that may contribute to continuing disparities is the introduction of defendant-authored rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials. Across the United States, prosecutors are introducing rap lyrics as confession evidence to establish guilt. Concerns about this practice have been articulated by scholars and others but rarely empirically examined. This study begins to address this lacuna. In particular, this study examines how lyrics are evaluated when presented in a trial context and determines how individuals change their evaluations of the lyrics to support their verdict. Participants were tasked with evaluating evidence, including rap lyrics, independently and in the context of a trial and then rendering a verdict. Results indicate that rap lyrics are viewed as interdependent with other evidence when presented at trial. Furthermore, although evaluations of lyrics did not predict determinations of guilt, verdict affected whether the lyrics were evaluated as a confession, and this effect was stronger for participants who believed the defendant was guilty. These findings highlight how introducing rap lyrics might disproportionately advantage prosecutors and contribute to our understanding of racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

No abstract

As cities and states implement social distancing guidelines to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, one concern is that the social construction of race, and the privileges inherent to those constructions, influence how and when to enforce social distancing. In this theoretical paper, we discuss why Black people may be at a greater risk for police intervention when not abiding by public health guidelines. We also describe the importance of considering how Whiteness, in addition to anti-Blackness, may influence how and when public health guidelines are enforced. Finally, we consider how disparate public health policing related to COVID-19 is situated in a broader historical and global context.

No abstract