Exploring law, tactics and norms that silence essential voices.
This multidisciplinary conference, hosted by UVA’s Sound Justice Lab, will bring together lawyers, students, musicians, activists, journalists, artists, and academics to explore the law’s technologies and tactics that try to silence stories, individuals, and groups.
Non-disclosure agreements, defamation lawsuits, and evidentiary requirements, for instance, prevent survivors of sexual assault from speaking out against perpetrators. Norms of civility and etiquette may disproportionately discipline gendered and racialized others on the witness stand or in the public gallery, while trial transcripts and official records often fail to accurately hear and represent non-normative voices.