Matching Items (2)
Description
The completion of this thesis analyzes the growing influence of social media in criminal cases. As social media has made a growing impact on our society, it by virtue is also impacting courtroom outcomes. This paper explores five current criminal cases, in which the primary component of evidence was usage of social media. The primary component of evidence was derived by social media and was used to determine the verdict of a case. Using a case study methodology, each case was analyzed in terms of how it was used in court, how social media influenced the final verdict, and possible justice implications. The findings of this paper determined how “beyond reasonable doubt”, authenticity, and reliability were the main issues that emerged when using social media as primary evidence. This project discusses how the given issues leave reason for questioning, and how it plays a part in the judicial implications that come along with using this kind of evidence. Overall, the findings demonstrated how the questions of reliability, that social media entails, create problems within the courtroom requiring judicial interpretation and decision making.
ContributorsSaigh, Alexa M (Author) / Broberg, Gregory (Thesis director) / Mayhall, Jeff (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Hip-hop’s popularity has been steadily increasing since the late 1980s, with it becoming the most streamed genre of music in 2017. This rise in popularity is matched by an increase in the number of criminal court cases which implement one of hip-hop’s primary features, rap, as evidence. In order to build upon prior research regarding rap music’s implications in legal proceedings and begin to understand what impact this phenomenon might have, this study examines the function of rap music within a sample of court cases. The research was conducted using a qualitative content analysis. The sample consists of 184 criminal cases from a five-year-period selected from the LexisNexis®Academic database. From these cases, 7 principal patterns were established: (1) gang affiliation, (2) descriptions of criminal acts, (3) impermissible character evidence, (4) criminal intent, (5) threats, (6) artistic expression, and (7) inciting incidents. Each of these patterns was examined and analyzed with respect to the function of rap evidence within each case. Among these patterns, the most common was rap evidence bearing gang affiliation, and the least common was rap’s direct use in incidents which resulted in a criminal charge. Most cases, with its use as a threat being the major exception, appeared to implement rap as a supplementary piece of evidence. The analysis demonstrated that the increased usage of rap evidence in the criminal proceedings attests to the significant impact that the hip-hop genre can have a have on individual cases. This impact is defined by the function of rap evidence, and in this sense the contextual and historical significance of rap music becomes a factor in how it is utilized as a tool in the legal system.
ContributorsLutes, Erin (Author) / Fradella, Hank (Thesis director) / Fahmy, Chantal (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05