Hip-Hop and Procedural Justice

• Date: 01 July 2012
• Published date: 01 July 2012
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368712443969
• Author: Kevin F. Steinmetz,Howard Henderson
• Subject Matter: Articles

Articles

Hip-Hop and Procedural

Justice: Hip-Hop Artists’

Perceptions of Criminal

Justice

Kevin F. Steinmetz

1

and

Howard Henderson

1

Abstract

Despite its popularity, hip-hop has remained one of the most woefully underexamined

topics within criminal justice and criminology . Given the realit y that hip-hop musi c

represents lyrical expressions from criminal justice’s most overrepresented popula-

tion; the aforementioned paucity is all the more perplexing. Utilizing a latent and

manifest content analysis of a random sample of 200 hip-hop songs, drawn from

platinum-selling albums between the years 2000 and 2010, the current study exam-

ined the manner and extent to which hip-hop artist’s portrayed the criminal justice

system. The results demonstrated that law enforcement was the branch of the crim-

inal justice system most likely to be mentioned by hip-hop artists (58.27% of men-

tionings) followed by corrections (33.81%) and courts (7.91%). Subthemes that

emerged from hip-hop discussions of law enforcement and corrections are also dis-

cussed. Unfairness and powerlessness inductively emerged as the two general

themes from the hip-hop criminal justice portrayals and are discussed within a pro-

cedural justice framework. Suggestions for future research and policy implications

are put forth.

Keywords

hip-hop, rap, music, procedural justice, criminal justice, content analysis

1

Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice, Huntsville, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kevin F. Steinmetz, Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice, P.O. Box 2296, 816 17th St.,

Huntsville, TX, 77341, USA

Email: kfs006@shsu.edu

Race and Justice

2(3) 155-178

ªThe Author(s) 2012

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368712443969

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Introduction

From its inception, hip-hop music (commonly referred to as rap) has been vehemently

critiqued for its violent, misogynistic, and antipolicing rhetoric, all the while simulta-

neously being supported, by some, as an emergent mechanism in the fur therance of

social justice.

1

The extant literature, concerning the relationship between hip-hop,

deviance, crime, and the criminal justice system, posits that for the most part,

hip-hop’s culture and lyrical content have led to increased acceptance of aggression,

derogatory perceptions of women, and disrespectforthecriminaljusticesystem,

most notably the police (Bogt, Engels, Bogers, & Klooserman, 2010; Johnson,

Adams, Ashburn, & Reed, 1995; Nisker, 2007). Hip-hop music is derived from a

subculture disproportionality impacted by the criminal justice system, with findings

consistently indicating that African Americans receive higher rates of arrest and

more severe forms of punishment than all other racial/ethnic groups in the United

States (Rocque, 2011). Despite numerous studies (Alridge, 2005; Cheney, 2005;

Dennis, 2007; Kubrin, 2005a, 2005b; Martinez, 1997; Nisker, 2007; Quinn, 1996;

Rose, 1994) that mention the criminal justice reality within hip-hop music, to date,

mainstream criminal justice and criminology journals have yet to systematically

examine the symbiotic relationship between criminal justice and hip-hop music.

The lack of hip-hop research in criminal justice and criminology journals is all the

more perplexing, given the continual criminal justice ‘‘intra muros’’ entreat to mea-

sure public perceptions of the criminal justice system and its impact of such percep-

tions on behavioral outcomes (for example, see Gabbidon, Higgins, & Potter, 2011).

Therefore, examining hip-hop’s criminal justice relevant thematic content provides an

alternative, contemporary avenue for assessing public portrayals of the system. As a

result, situating our research within the broader body of knowledge focused on exam-

inations of criminal justice perceptions, this study utilizes a systematic latent and man-

ifest content analysis to assess hip-hop artist’s portrayal of the criminal justice system.

Hip-hop music involves spoken word laid over a backing music track, typically

with a prominent beat. Much like other musical art forms, hip-hop, from its inception,

has served as a communicator of cultural messages to an audience that had few other

socially acceptable accessible outlets for expression (Alridge, 2005). In the art form’s

early years, it was noted that ‘‘[h]ip-hop is like a CNN that black kids never had’’ (rap-

per Chuck D as quoted in Gates, 1990). While contemporary social media outlets

threaten this once predominant avenue for expression and cultural transmission—with

research showing African Americans are just as likely to use social media as other

racial/ethnic groups (Smith, 2011)—hip-hop continues to provid e an outlet of and for

this artistic expression for a culture historically denied the benefits of the principles

theoretically extended by the Bill of Rights. The music is a medium for the transmis-

sion of common experiences, struggles, and aspirations to othe r members of the hip-

hop community and listeners from all strata of society: domestic and international.

Given that this community also experiences an overrepresented reality within the

criminal justice system, it is imperative that examinations of the perceptions of the

system be assessed through the music.

156 Race and Justice 2(3)