Nick Noble, “An Introduction to The Cloaks of Crime“
The Cloaks of Crime is a short video essay I produced for my Law 102: Criminal Law midterm assignment in 2022. The title refers to the layers of cultural values that have come to envelop popular conceptions of crime and justice, often reinforcing cycles of criminality and obfuscating practical strategies for harm reduction. Using a mix of archival film, news video, and original footage, the video moves through stages of the criminal justice system, from arrest to incarceration, to demonstrate how these “cloaks” – born of colonial and capitalist values – manifest in the procedures of policing and trials.
I presented this project as a video essay, rather than as a written piece, because information is often more convincing when it is “shown,” rather than told. Some of this showing is literal: I dug through archival documentaries of policing in Canada and borrowed clips that I felt highlighted contemporary attitudes in police culture, allowing the law enforcement officers on camera to “tell on themselves” by speaking and acting in ways they felt were appropriate, but which we would now recognize as abusive and harmful. Using clips from documentaries made in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s allows the audience to track the evolution of policing cultures through comparison.
Some of the showing is more symbolic: I scanned pages from the Criminal Code of Canada and arranged them on screen tilted, out of context, and with analog distortions from the scanning process to represent the lack of accessibility inherent in the legal system. The text is overwhelming and bewildering, just as it would present to an accused with no legal training.
By using archival footage from the National Film Board, I hoped to draw attention to one of the central themes of the video essay: the role that national mythologies play in shaping our perspectives on justice. Stories are tools with immense power. I want audiences to ask themselves who holds these tools, and how they might be applied to values of right and wrong that we take for granted.
Nick Noble, January 23, 2023
Great watch!