Sounds of Prejudice: Background Music During Victim Impact Statements
Erica A. Schroeder · Kansas Law Review · 2010
ways: through appraisal, memory, or empathy. 11When emotions are created through appraisal of music, our bodies automatically process and evaluate the music against personal criteria to decide whether it is cheerful or sorrowful. 12Additionally, memories can bring back past emotions when an individual has a reaction to a specific song or sound. 13 The third way emotions may be created through music is by empathy, or through the phenomenon of feeling emotions based on observing. 14 Listening to expressive music is similar to observing others' emotions and, as such, can lead to the generation of a similar emotion in the observer. 15 This possibility that music can create empathy is especially concerning when music is introduced into the already highly emotional setting of VIS.Any information jurors receive from VIS should be based on the words of the victim's family.Not only is it unfair to add accompanying mournful music that will generate further empathy, but it creates a grave danger of emotional decisions by the jury.Of course, the specific emotional reaction will depend upon the type of music.Studies have shown that music can be reliably described using basic emotional expressions such as happy, sad, or fearful. 16Although the music's performance may be a factor, the listener's interpretation may be influenced even more by culture, personality, experience, musical expertise, specific memories, or mood. 17dditionally, contextual aspects of the location and event where the music is played affect the listener, not only for acoustic purposes, but as a result of the surrounding atmosphere-which could be anything from a funeral to a holiday party. 18 In short, Scherer and Zentner determined that emotions actually experienced by a listener can be determined by a formula consisting of all the aforementioned factors: the melody itself, the manner of performance, the personality and experiences of the listener, and the location or event where the music is heard. 19Because not every 0.6.