NLJ this week: ‘Gang’ issues for prosecutors

‘Drill music’ videos promote gang violence and often describe stabbings and shootings in great detail. In February, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Max Hill stated that prosecutors will make sure juries know accused persons are part of a gang, if justified and provable, and ‘will bring forward evidence, for example, of social media posts that involve coded language contained in drill music’.

Writing in NLJ , Sailesh Mehta, of Red Lion Chambers, and Mahesh Karu, of 2 Harcourt Buildings, look at the issues surrounding the use of social media as evidence and the need to ensure any conviction is safe. As they write, ‘some commentators feel that the law and practice have moved in a direction that tends to criminalise youngsters and particularly black youths’.