Gangsta' rap and a murder in Bakersfield

The present study explores the biasing effects of gangsta' rap lyrics on su bject perceptions of a murder trial defendant's personality. The lyrics wer e those actually authored by a defendant in a murder trial on which the pre sent author was a psychological consultant for the defense. Results strongl y indicate that the defendant was seen as more likely to have committed a m urder than had he not been presented as authoring such lyrics. Surprisingly , results also show that the writing of such rap lyrics was more damning in terms of adjudged personality characteristics than was the fact of being c harged with murder.