Table Of ContentMusic in American Crime Prevention and Punishment
Music
American
in
Crime Prevention
Punishment
and
LiLy E. HirscH
The University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2012
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the
U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2015 2014 2013 2012 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Hirsch, Lily E., 1979–
Music in American crime prevention and punishment / Lily E. Hirsch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 0- 472- 11854- 0 (cloth : alk. paper)— isbn 978- 0- 472- 02874- 0
(e- book)
1. Music and crime. 2. Music— Social aspects—U nited States. 3. Music—
Psychological aspects. 4. Performing arts— Law and legislation—U nited
States. 5. Criminal justice, Administration of— United States. I. Title.
ML3917.U5H57 2012
362.88′17— dc23 2012025922
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank many institutions and individuals for their
role in the completion of this book. First, I thank the library staff at Cleve-
land State University for their work with OhioLink to obtain some of the
diverse literature on which this interdisciplinary study depends. Thank you
also to the members of my rather large fall 2010 graduate seminar on music
and Romantic aesthetics. Through their engagement and thoughtful discus-
sion of complex material, the students in this class helped me think through
various ideas and themes in this book. This book also benefited from the
support of various faculty members at Cleveland State. I am especially
indebted in this regard to Charles Hersch, a political scientist and closet
musicologist, for coffee chats at different stages in this project’s develop-
ment. I also greatly appreciate his response to an early draft of the work,
completed during a long week of jury duty. For his attention to my use
of legalese and encouragement to continue work on this topic without a
legal degree, I thank law professor Kevin O’Neil. I extend a similar note of
thanks to my brother, Martin Hirsch, Esquire, and my dear friend, attorney
Melanie Jean Vartabedian. I am grateful to both for their careful attention
to several sections of this work.
I owe special thanks to Bryan Gilliam for his continued support of my
work. Though this project seems a great departure from the research I began
at Duke University on musical politics in Nazi Germany, Bryan has remained
an outstanding advocate and adviser. His encouragement strengthens my
work on any and all topics. Orin Starn has similarly been an enduring pres-
vi ✦ Acknowledgments
ence in my constellation of academic star-m entors. I am indebted to him for
his comments on an early version of this work and his thoughtful take on
the book’s focus. The advice of Robert Fink was also invaluable as I worked
to bring out salient themes and explored new ways of thinking about con-
temporary applications of Romantic aesthetics as well as canon formation
in popular music.
The project itself benefited fundamentally from conversations and email
exchanges with several individuals involved in the book’s case studies. Thank
you to Judge Paul Sacco, Judge Wayne Miller, Karen Cade, Clint McKay,
Margaret Chabris, Zachary Brown, and Arnold Shapiro for providing direct
insight into specific examples of music’s operation in crime prevention and
punishment. For more practical help, I am indebted to Taylor Roelofs for
his technological expertise and to Carrie Mallonée for her musical know-
how. I also thank George Nemeth, who once again proved indispensable as
proofreader and foil. The anonymous reviewers assigned by the University of
Michigan Press were similarly significant. Their thoughtful responses to the
manuscript were extraordinarily helpful as I worked to improve this book.
I owe thanks to the editorial board as well and to all those involved with
this project at the University of Michigan Press. Above all, I am indebted
to editor Chris Hebert. My first book benefited so tremendously from his
guidance and advice. I was confident that this project would be best served
by a second collaboration. I am lucky he was up for the job.
Sections of chapter 1 of this book previously appeared in “Weaponizing
Classical Music: Crime Prevention and Symbolic Power in the Age of Rep-
etition,” Journal of Popular Music Studies 19.4 (2007): 352– 58. I am grateful
to Journal of Popular Music Studies for permission to reprint this material.
Thank you also to the Taylor and Francis Group and Popular Music and
Society (http://www.informaworld.com) for permission to reprint in chapter
2 portions of my article “‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?’: Music as Pun-
ishment in the United States Legal System,” Popular Music and Society 34.1
(2011): 35–53. I offer my special appreciation to the editors of this particular
volume of the journal, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan. Their work and
encouragement has had a significant influence on this project and my own
thinking about “the dark side of the tune.”
Finally, I am forever indebted to my supportive friends and family. Vickie
Kosarik showed great patience when I thought out loud about this project,
in addition to other related and unrelated topics, during our Friday lunches.
Jim and Cyndi Roelofs have always expressed welcome interest in all of my
Acknowledgments ✦ vii
academic writings. My parents, Marlena and Barry Hirsch, truly believe I
can do anything. And finally, thank you to my husband, Austin Roelofs.
My love for you is constantly expanding with all that I do and all that we
do together— every new adventure. Our greatest adventure will no doubt
be parenthood. Special thanks to Elliana Grace Roelofs for waiting until I
completed the writing of this book to arrive and change my life forever.
Contents
Introduction 1
1. Classical Music in Crime Prevention 12
2. “Sound for Sound”: A New Approach to Punishment
in Noise Abatement 29
3. Rap Lyrics as Evidence 50
4. “The Music Made Me Do It”: Obscenity and Incitement
in Legal Valuations of Music 68
5. Music in Prison 85
6. Music as Torture 110
Epilogue 132
Notes 139
Sources Consulted 175
Index 197
