This is a student-made episode from the Cultural and Creative Criminology class of 2025 at the University of Stirling. It discusses J Cole’s song Neighbors and episodes of TV series The Innocence Files which focus on the case of Franky Carrillo, in relation to the themes of racial profiling, systemic violence, and miscarriages of justice.
Episode Credits: Ciaran Colombo (presenter/researcher), Dana Hamill (presenter), Elena Padilla Alcantar (researcher, editor), Stephanie Cairns (research), Moesha Chhabria (editor), Samuel Wilson (composer).
References:
Cole, J. (2016). Neighbors. Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. You can watch the music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nfVWiXY3WY.
Hoekstra, M. and Sloan, C. (2022) Does Race Matter for Police Use of Force? Evidence from 911 Calls. American Economic Review, 112(3), pp.827–860.
Krieger, S.A. (2011) ‘Why Our Justice System Convicts Innocent People, and the Challenges Faced by Innocence Projects Trying to Exonerate Them’, New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, 14(3), pp.333–402.
Leo, R.A. (2005) ‘Rethinking the Study of Miscarriages of Justice: Developing a Criminology of Wrongful Conviction’, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 21(3), pp. 201-223.
McNamarah, C.T. (2019) ‘White Caller Crime: Racialized Police Communication and Existing While Black’. 24 Michigan Journal of Race & Law (335).
Mortensen, T.M., Moscowitz, L., Wan, A. and Yang, A. (2020) ‘The marijuana user in US news media: an examination of visual stereotypes of race, culture, criminality and normification’, Visual Communication, 19(2), p.231-255.
Ortiz, E. (2016) ‘“The Album Is Largely From a Perspective That Isn’t J. Cole’s”: Producer Elite on ’4 Your Eyez Only’, Complex, 10th December. Available at: https://www.complex.com/music/a/edwin-ortiz/elite-interview-on-j-cole-4-your-eyez-only.
‘The Witness: The Murder of Donald Sarpy’ (2020) The Innocence Files [Television series]. Available at: Netflix.
‘The Witness: The Trials of Franky Carrillo’ (2020) The Innocence Files [Television series]. Available at: Netflix.
Vac, A. (2022) The Bigger Picture: Wrongful Conviction Documentary Thematic vs Episodic Framing, Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports.