4/16/2023 0 Comments Murder on my mind![]() ![]() ![]() Her research indicates that the benefits of using lyrics in court are far outweighed by their misleading impact when read out to a jury. Kubrin wants to see rap lyrics excluded from the courtroom in almost all cases. She’s published a series of studies on the issue, including the now-seminal 2014 paper Rap on Trial, alongside Erik Nielson, and she’s set up a website,, where anyone can access her trove of research materials. ![]() Kubrin, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at University of California, Irvine, has dedicated much of the past half-decade to researching the use of rap lyrics in courtrooms and fielding calls from defense lawyers who want their clients' art to be deemed inadmissible. But the implications of this sort of “evidence” are disastrous not just for Melly - who stands accused of a grotesque crime and, police claim, has forensic evidence against him already - but for the treatment of rap artists in courtrooms across the United States.Ĭharis E. He told The FADER last year that, though prosecutors got him on a handful of minor infractions, his return to jail hinged on the actions of the state attorney, who read the second verse of “Murder on My Mind” to the courtroom.Īs Ben wrote last week, it’s easy to imagine prosecutors dredging up the lyrics to “Murder on My Mind” once again - if it seemed to work when Melly was up for a handful of misdemeanors, it’ll surely work when he’s on trial for double homicide. Shortly after Melly was freed in 2017, he went back to jail for violating his probation. “Murder on My Mind” - a song that combines punishing loneliness with vivid and brutal murder fantasies - came out while he was still in prison, where he served a one-year sentence after being involved in a shootout near his high school in Vero Beach, Florida. This dangerous link between life and lyrics is unlikely to shock Melly. ![]()
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