Copping the blame: the role of YouTube videos in the criminalisation of UK drill music

Abstract UK drill music frequently features as a prime suspect in newsrooms and courtrooms that charge it with driving the ‘knife crime epidemic’ Britain's major conurbations. Such prejudicial assumptions about role of inciting violence are largely unfounded, but nevertheless inform criminal justice policy leads to unjust discriminatory outcomes. While rappers consciously post violent content on YouTube increase viewership gain popularity, facilitating profiting from this traffic imagery is rarely questioned proceedings – enabling, does, weaponisation such videos ‘bad character evidence’ court. Drawing selection represent dangerous ‘criminals’, article argues function resource for criminalisation by police prosecutors who present lyrics personal testimony robbed its fictive qualities, makes vulnerable ruling treatment within system.