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Criminal Justice System and The Csi Effect

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Words: 1415 |

Pages: 3|

8 min read

Published: Dec 16, 2021

Words: 1415|Pages: 3|8 min read

Published: Dec 16, 2021

We are all guilty to believing what we see on TV, either from realistic drama shows to even what we hear on the news. But not everything on TV is real, even though it might seem realistic. A prime example of “realistic” TV is all the crime dramas that we see including shows like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and CSI. Though these shows seem realistic and represent the judicial and criminal system in a very real way, there are gaps between what happens on the show and what happens in real life. The CSI effect is the theory that people who tend to watch crime drama television are more likely to expect forensic evidence when being presented a trial where they are called for jury duty. Depending on the amount of forensic evidence presented at the trial has an effect on the final decision, more forensic evidence the more the jury is biased to the side which has more evidence. It also believed that those who frequently watched crime drama shows were more liely to find the defendant guilty. This can be problematic because it can lead to allowing guilty people walk or putting innocent people in prison. In this paper, we will explore more information about the CSI effect through three scholarly reviewed journals and find out if the CSI truly exists within our criminal justice system. I, personally, am extremely guilty of watching crime drama television, especially Law and Order: SVU and that show is on their 21st season, lasting longer than the average television series. There is a reason that shows like these are so popular, it is because there seem realistic and they show the viewers what it is like to deal with crime every day. Though these shows seem realistic, there are many flaws, like the crimes themselves seem overdone and exaggerated and everything runs smoothly and in the end, the bad guy goes to jail. 

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In the article The CSI Effect, DNA Disclosure, and Popular Crime Dramas, written by Gayle Rhineberger-Dunn, Steven Briggs and Nicole Rader, the explore the topic of the CSI effect and what they believe from previous research. They believe there are two components to the definition of the CSI effect, “that crime show viewers expect more and better forensic evidence techniques to be given as evidence in an actual trial” (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, & Rader, 2016) which creates an unrealistic expectation or lawyers, prosecutors, judges and police gathering this evidence. The other is the expectation from jurors that all forensic evidence is “reliable and infallible”, meaning that everything present in court is 100% factual, there are no mistakes, which is unrealistic since there are many mistakes that are easily made while collecting and analyzing evidence. Personally, I can see where these expectations come from being an avid fan of these types of TV, there are never many trials where there is a lack of forensic evidence that was perfectly collected and analyzed, so it is reasonable to assume all trails work the same. In the shows, there is no worry if the evidence was flawed or poorly collected, which is an unrealistic expectation. 

Many people working in the criminal justice system feel like they have been affected by the CSI effect. In the journal article “Beyond Frequency: Perceived Realism and the CSI Effect”, written by Evelyn M. Maeder and Richard Corbett, they look at polls and previous interviews with lawyers, police officers and judges to understand their beliefs. For lawyers, they believe that the CSI effect can pose a threat to not only the prosecution but also to defence attorneys and that they both believe that the CSI effects can change the ability for jurors to remain unbiased throughout the entire trial. But if there is forensic evidence presented, by either the prosecutor or the defence attorney, that the jurors maybe be over-reliant on the forensics that it could make the trial unfair. In a study, 74% of prosecutors say that they have tried cases in which the jurors expected scientific evidence and that 45% of lawyers believe that jurors mainly focused on only forensics (Maeder & Corbett, 2015). Due to these beliefs, many lawyers have admitted that they have had to change the way that they have presented cases differently due to the CSI effect. Even judges believe the CSI effect and that it has lead to wrongful verdicts on the grounds of insufficient forensic evidence. Police officers have also been affected by this theory saying that they are concerned that these television series show an inaccurate representation of their jobs. Since police in TV shows tend to be the ideas of perfect cops, the real police now have an unrealistic expectation of what the real police can accomplish, this can lead to potential loss of trust from the public. Another problem that the police face is that their testimonies in court are no longer important since lawyers tend to focus more on physical evidence rather than police testimony. Because of all these reasons, police have changed the way the interacted with the public due to the CSI effect (Maeder & Corbett, 2015). We have discussed what the CSI effect is and how it affects the people who work in the justice system but the question now remains if it works. The answer is that it does not but it does. Many studies have shown that there some correlation but it not as specific and straightforward as what is to be believed.

In the article, “Jury’s Still Out: How Television and Crime Show Viewing Influences Jurors’ Evaluations of Evidence”, written by Rebecca M. Hayes-Smith, have composed multiple experiments. They first explored a previous study where a mock rape trial was given to undergraduates, which included people the either have and have not watched crime television, actings mock jurors. Overall, in the end, they all came to the same conclusion that the defendant was not guilty due to the lack of physical evidence. This experiment concluded that the results did not support the idea that those exposed to crime television tended to find the defendant guilty. But they did find that when the jurors viewed a case with weak forensic evidence but strong evidence that was not forensic, those who watched more crime television were less likely to find the defendant guilty that non-crime show watchers (Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011). In the other two articles we have already looked at they also came to the conclusion that the results were mixed. One article found that three out of the eight experiments did not find evidence of the forensic evidence and that the results of evidence are mixed.

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Overall the research supports some ideas but not all, it shows that people can be influenced but to some extent, though the theory makes sense it somewhat downgrades humans by accusing them of being so gullible. As a big Law and Order fan, when I first saw this theory I thought to myself that it was silly and unrealistic but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Forensic evidence is a large aspect of crime television shows, in Special Victims Unit, they tend to have either semen samples or blood residue at the crime scene or on the victim. There was even one episode where they caught the culprit from the colour of sand on their boots. A major part why the CSI effect is so believable is that people want to believe that court can be that easy, that everyone has scientific evidence that was perfectly collected that can easily make or break a case. Another thing we might have to take in consideration for shows like Law and Order, CSI and Criminal Minds is that in the span of 42 minutes they need to find the crime and solve it and the easiest way to convince that the defendant is guilty is to show forensic evidence that can not be questioned so they can throw someone in prison by the end of the episode. This idea really emphasizes how easily mass media can have a simple effect on the viewers without them even knowing, like subliminal messaging. And since these shows are so realistic it makes it almost seem obvious that the shows work the same way as real life. The CSI effect is restricted to crime shows, but if we really look back, every show has an effect on our lives, making it difficult to see the truth behind the screen.       

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Criminal Justice System And The Csi Effect. (2021, December 16). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/criminal-justice-system-and-the-csi-effect/
“Criminal Justice System And The Csi Effect.” GradesFixer, 16 Dec. 2021, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/criminal-justice-system-and-the-csi-effect/
Criminal Justice System And The Csi Effect. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/criminal-justice-system-and-the-csi-effect/> [Accessed 28 Mar. 2024].
Criminal Justice System And The Csi Effect [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2021 Dec 16 [cited 2024 Mar 28]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/criminal-justice-system-and-the-csi-effect/
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