House of Lords to debate legislative amendment co-authored by Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah

On 11 February, the House of Lords will debate a clause on “Creative and artistic expression: admissibility in criminal proceedings”, tabled as an amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill by Labour peer Baroness Shami Chakrabarti. The intervention was coordinated by Art Not Evidence and supported by JUSTICE.

Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah and other members of Art Not Evidence drafted the Criminal Evidence (Creative and Artistic Expression) Bill in response to a growing number of criminal cases in which rap music is used to suggest motive, intention, and criminal propensity, despite limited evidential value. Most defendants in these cases are Black young men and boys accused of ‘joint enterprise’ and gang-related offending, where 'rap evidence’ can fill evidential gaps and reinforce racist stereotypes.

Ahead of the debate, more than 60 of the UK’s most senior legal and cultural voices have written to the Justice Secretary, urging the Government to back the new statutory safeguard. They include: Riel Karmy-Jones KC, Chair of the Criminal Bar Association; rap artist Giggs; Tom Kiehl, CEO of UK Music; Andrea Coomber KC, Chief Executive of The Howard League for Penal Reform; DJ Semtex; and musician and free-expression advocate, Billy Bragg.

Supporters of the amendment argue that introducing statutory safeguards would strengthen fair trial protections, help protect freedom of expression, reduce reliance on speculative gang narratives, and improve confidence in the justice system at a time when concerns about racial disparity and joint enterprise prosecutions remain acute.

Read more here on the JUSTICE website and in recent newspaper coverage ('Campaigners urge UK ministers to make music lyrics inadmissible in court' Guardian 9 February 2026).