Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
A talk in the John Austin Seminar Series
Speaker: Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah, Associate Professor of criminal law and criminal evidence (LSE)
Chair: George Letsas, Professor of Philosophy of Law (UCL Laws)
About the Seminar:
Recent years has seen mounting concern about the use of rap music as evidence in criminal proceedings, alongside an ever-increasing number of cases involving ‘rap evidence’. Yet, while rap music is widely recognised to be highly prejudicial as evidence in court, there has been little consideration of how ‘prejudicial effect’ is, or should be, conceptualised and addressed. This seminar will unpack the meaning of prejudicial effect in criminal trials and the distinction between ‘prejudice’ and ‘undue prejudice’; interrogate how the unique social and cultural context of rap music can make it ‘unduly prejudicial’ as evidence; and explore how the appellate courts approach and address the prejudicial effect of rap evidence. In addition to advocating for restrictions on the admissibility of rap evidence, an expansive understanding of ‘prejudicial effect’ that encompasses non-epistemic fairness considerations will be advanced, while emphasising the importance of assessing evidence in its proper social and cultural context.
A talk in the John Austin Seminar Series
Speaker: Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah, Associate Professor of criminal law and criminal evidence (LSE)
Chair: George Letsas, Professor of Philosophy of Law (UCL Laws)
About the Seminar:
Recent years has seen mounting concern about the use of rap music as evidence in criminal proceedings, alongside an ever-increasing number of cases involving ‘rap evidence’. Yet, while rap music is widely recognised to be highly prejudicial as evidence in court, there has been little consideration of how ‘prejudicial effect’ is, or should be, conceptualised and addressed. This seminar will unpack the meaning of prejudicial effect in criminal trials and the distinction between ‘prejudice’ and ‘undue prejudice’; interrogate how the unique social and cultural context of rap music can make it ‘unduly prejudicial’ as evidence; and explore how the appellate courts approach and address the prejudicial effect of rap evidence. In addition to advocating for restrictions on the admissibility of rap evidence, an expansive understanding of ‘prejudicial effect’ that encompasses non-epistemic fairness considerations will be advanced, while emphasising the importance of assessing evidence in its proper social and cultural context.
