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Full-Text Articles in Law
A ‘Bad Rap’: R. V. Skeete And The Admissibility Of Rap Lyric Evidence, Ngozi Okidegbe
A ‘Bad Rap’: R. V. Skeete And The Admissibility Of Rap Lyric Evidence, Ngozi Okidegbe
Faculty Scholarship
The use of accused-authored rap lyric evidence is no longer rare in Canadian criminal proceedings. Adduced by Crown prosecutors, rap lyrics written or co-written by an accused are increasingly used in criminal trials as evidence of the accused’s intent, knowledge, motive, identity, or confession to the commission of the specific offence charged. The practice is not without controversy.1 The introduction of an accused’s artistic work in the form of rap lyrics at trial engages trial fairness concerns. Without a keen awareness of the social and cultural context that produces rap music, trial actors risk inflating their probative value and …
Narrative Topoi In The Digital Age, Jessica Silbey, Zahr Said
Narrative Topoi In The Digital Age, Jessica Silbey, Zahr Said
Faculty Scholarship
Decades of thoughtful law and humanities scholarship have made the case for using humanistic texts and methods in the legal classroom. We build on that scholarship by identifying and describing three “narrative topoi” of the twenty-first century – podcasts, twitter and fake news. We use the term “topos” (from the Greek meaning “place”) and its plural, “topoi,” to mean “a literary commonplace” and “general setting for discussion” in the context of literary forms. Like an identifiable genre, narrative topoi are familiar story paths for audiences to travel. These narrative topoi live in contemporary popular culture and are products of digital …