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The "unfair" use of music taste to help convict people in court has been explored in this year’s annual Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Annual Lecture. 

The address, held at ºÚÁÏÍø Leicester (ºÚÁÏÍø), was given by Keir Monteith KC, a lawyer who helped overturn a prison sentence given to Ade Adedeji. 

 

Ade, a 21-year-old Black man from Manchester, served three years of his term before his conviction was quashed in January this year. 

His conviction was in part due to a "false identification" by a police officer who incorrectly claimed he was a boy said to be wearing gang colours in a nine-second drill rap video. 

The use of association with, or enjoyment of, particular music genres in criminal cases – such as Rap and drill music - is, Mr Monteith explained, becoming more common in courts across the UK.  

He said: “Music is unfairly used in court by police, prosecution and the state to label young Black men as gangsters and convict them in criminal courts. 

“Artists make music not knowing anything they say can be used in evidence against them, and others.”  

 

Mr Monteith explained that the use of this tactic by prosecutors in UK courts has become normalised, and jurors are being encouraged to convict people purely based on music they listen to, using literal interpretations of the lyrics being spoken. 

Between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023, this happened in 252 cases. 

After his lecture, held at ºÚÁÏÍø’s Stephen Lawrence Research Centre (SLRC), Mr Monteith was joined by Ade Adedeji for a Q&A.  

 

Ade explained, in one answer, why violence features so often in music. 

He said: “People like to see and hear violence. So others sing about that to make money. It doesn’t mean they do the violence. You need to draw attention to yourself and stand out on social media, so [artists] need to be seen as the most violent. That’s why they do it. It’s not reflective of actual violence.” 

Led by Dr Yusef Bakkali, Legacy in Action Fellow at the SLRC, the Q&A also included several panel members: 

• Roxy Legane, the founder of Kids of Colour and a steering group member of the Northern Police Monitoring Project 

• Lloyd Luther, a rapper, engineer and producer who graduated from ºÚÁÏÍø with a degree in Music Technology, and first made his name with the track Drugs on Tap, which featured on the critically-acclaimed Netflix show Top Boy 

• Adele Oliver, an artist and writer from Birmingham and the author of the landmark book  

 

The event opened with Ty’rone Haughton, who, since graduating from ºÚÁÏÍø, is now a successful poet, lyricist and storyteller. Ty’rone performed a poem, written especially for the event, to the 200-plus attendees in the lecture hall.