California gearing up to limit prosecutors’ ability to use rap lyrics as evidence in trials

California is gearing up to become the first state in the U.S. to limit the ability of prosecutors to use lyrics from rap songs as evidence in criminal cases, a report says. 

Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer Sr., a Democrat representing the Los Angeles area, told KTVU that Assembly Bill 2799 is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom next month. 

The bill will require pre-trial hearings to determine whether lyrics are relevant to a case – a measure Jones-Sawyer says would cut back on any racial bias that might exist when presenting evidence in a case, according to KTVU.

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“Their stage name might be Little Murder, but that doesn’t mean they’re a murderer,” Jones-Sawyer told the station. 

“We found that the lyrics that they were using in the court to prosecute someone, those weren’t even that person’s lyrics. It was written by someone else,” he added. “The music was written by someone else, and they were just performing it.” 

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The bill comes after Jeffrey Willams and Sergio Kitchens, known as the rappers Young Thug and Gunna, respectively, were arrested in Atlanta in May on gang and racketeering charges, with their lyrics being cited by prosecutors in an 88-page indictment. 

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The website of California’s State Legislature says Assembly Bill 2799 “would require a court, in a criminal proceeding where a party seeks to admit as evidence a form of creative expression, to consider specified factors when balancing the probative value of that evidence against the substantial danger of undue prejudice. 

“The bill would define ‘creative expression’ as the expression or application of creativity or imagination in the production or arrangement of forms, sounds, words, movements, or symbols, as specified,” the website adds.