Lyrics of Dissident Youth Cultures and Police Misconduct in the United States

• In Event: Abolition, Culture, and Geography

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze US rap and punk rock lyrics regarding criticism of the police and compare these accusations to real life data of police misconduct over the last decades. I sort these findings in five categories: racism, corruption, violence, deadly violence, and sexual violence. While the accusations made by dissident youth musicians are not useful to solve singular cases of police violence, they bear witness to larger systemic issues. By comparing these accusation with existing data of police misconduct, I find that these accusations are reliable. These accounts do not always reach the actual extent of excess and viciousness police misconduct. This study paves the way for research and social justice activism to take a deeper look into the accusations made by musicians on a bigger scale.

Author

• Florian Griese, John Jay College of Criminal Justice