Maryland Enacts PACE Act to Protect Rap Lyrics in Court

Maryland has officially become the third state to restrict the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials. Under the Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act, prosecutors are now prohibited from presenting creative work in court unless a judge determines it meets a high bar of relevance—specifically, that the lyrics were intended as a literal statement of fact regarding the case at hand. This legislative shift addresses a long-standing double standard in the American legal system, where fictional narratives in hip-hop are frequently weaponized against defendants, a treatment rarely applied to other genres or art forms. By requiring judicial gatekeeping, the PACE Act aims to prevent prosecutors from using stylistic tropes and persona-driven storytelling to bias juries. Maryland joins California and Louisiana in a growing movement to decouple artistic expression from criminal intent.