Guilty by Visible Association: Socially Mediated Visibility and Power in Gang Prosecutions

• In Event: Status Contests: Power, Visibility, and Subjectivities

Abstract

Using an affordances framework, we consider how increased visibility afforded by social media impacts the criminal justice process. Social media content—collected easily and cheaply by law enforcement—is used as evidence in criminal prosecutions, a new development with important implications for marginalized populations already heavy surveillance. Seven gang indictments including 1,281 overt acts over an eight-year period were analyzed and coded for including social media content, social media platform, and content of evidence. We found that social media provided associative evidence that tied defendants to incriminating content and to each other. We also saw a change over time as prosecutors increasingly used written and private communication that was potentially more specific than co-appearances in photographs. Our findings emphasize the role of power. Socially mediated visibility gave prosecutors tools to define and leverage suspects’ associations as criminal conspiracy charges that carried forward to convictions.

Authors

• Jeffrey Lane, Rutgers University

• Fanny Anne Ramirez, Rutgers U

• Katy Elizabeth Pearce, U of Washington