The Uses of Popular Culture

Jonathan Rapping, Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, has published The Revolution Will Be Televised: Popular Culture and the American Criminal Justice Narrative at 51 New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement 5 (2015). Here is the abstract.

This article considers the role that popular culture must play in helping to transform a criminal justice culture that is inconsistent without noblest democratic ideals. It examines the film Gideon's Army and the work of the organization behind the film, Gideon's Promise. It points out the valuable contribution Gideon's Army makes in raising awareness about the important role of public defenders in our criminal justice system and how far short we have fallen from fulfilling the constitutional right to counsel. It suggests, however, that there is much more to be done and that there is an important role to be played by filmmakers and storytellers who are interested in helping realize equal justice.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.