CSI Effect
Encyclopedia
The CSI effect, also known as the CSI syndrome and the CSI infection, is any of several ways in which the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
influences public perception. The term most often refers to the belief that jurors
have come to demand more forensic evidence in criminal trials, thereby raising the effective standard of proof for prosecutor
s. While this belief is widely held among American legal professionals, some studies have suggested that crime shows are unlikely to cause such an effect, although frequent CSI viewers may place a lower value on circumstantial evidence
. As technology improves and becomes more prevalent throughout society, people may also develop higher expectations for the capabilities of forensic technology.
There are several other manifestations of the CSI effect. Greater public awareness of forensic science has also increased the demand for forensic evidence in police investigations, boosting workloads for crime lab
oratories. The number and popularity of forensic science programs at the university level have greatly increased worldwide, though some new programs have been criticized for inadequately preparing their students for real forensic work. It is possible that forensic science shows teach criminals how to conceal evidence of their crimes, thereby making it more difficult for investigators to solve cases.
, a television program which first aired in 2000. In CSI, a fictional team of crime scene investigators solve murders in the Las Vegas metropolitan area
. In each episode, the discovery of a dead body leads to a criminal investigation by members of the team, who gather and analyze forensic evidence, question witnesses, and apprehend suspects. The show's popularity led to two spin-offs
: CSI: Miami
, which debuted in 2002, and CSI: NY
, first aired in 2004. The CSI franchise's success resulted in the production of many similar shows; in turn, the "CSI effect" has been associated with other crime shows, including American Justice
, Bones
, Cold Case, Cold Case Files
, Cold Squad
, Criminal Minds
, Crossing Jordan
, Forensic Files
, NCIS
, Numb3rs
, The Secrets of Forensic Science, Waking the Dead
, Wire in the Blood
, and Without a Trace
. Based on the Nielsen ratings
, six of the top ten most popular television shows in the United States in 2005 were crime dramas, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation reached the number one ranking in November 2007.
Several aspects of popular crime shows have been criticized as being unrealistic. In real investigations, DNA and fingerprint
data are often unobtainable and, when they are available, can take several weeks to process, whereas television crime lab
s usually get results within hours. In the first season of CSI, technicians made a plaster mold
of the interior of a wound to determine the type of knife used to make the wound, which is not possible with current technology. Characters on television often use the word "match" to describe a definitive relationship between two pieces of evidence, whereas real forensic technicians can only say that one piece of evidence "is associated with" another, to avoid associating themselves with potential error.
Anthony E. Zuiker
, creator of the CSI franchise, claimed that "all of the science is accurate" on the shows; researchers, however, have described CSI portrayal of forensic science as "high-tech magic". Forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello estimated that 40 percent of the scientific techniques depicted on CSI do not exist. In addition to using unrealistic techniques, CSI ignores all elements of uncertainty present in real investigations, and instead portrays experimental results as absolute truth. The notion that these inaccurate portrayals could alter the public perception of forensic evidence was dubbed the "CSI effect", a term which began to appear in mainstream media as early as 2004. By 2009, more than 250 stories about the CSI effect had appeared in newspapers and magazines, including articles in National Geographic, Scientific American
, and U.S. News & World Report
.
Although the CSI effect is a recent phenomenon, it has long been recognized that media portrayals of the United States legal system
are capable of significantly altering public awareness, knowledge, and opinions of it. A 2002 juror survey showed that viewers of the popular court show Judge Judy
were greatly misinformed about the purpose of the judge
within a courtroom
. Earlier programs which may have affected public perception of "the legal or investigative systems" include Perry Mason
(1957–66) and Quincy, M.E.
(1976–83). News media
reports on criminal trials, extensive internet blog
ging, and the successes of the Innocence Project
have also contributed to the increased public awareness of forensic science. Zuiker has stated that "'The CSI Effect' is, in my opinion, the most amazing thing that has ever come out of the series."
when such evidence is absent; and second, that jurors have greater confidence in forensic and particularly DNA evidence than is warranted, resulting in a higher rate of conviction
when such evidence is present. While these and other effects may be caused by crime shows, the most commonly reported effect is that jurors are wrongly acquitting defendants despite overwhelming evidence of guilt. In particular, prosecutors have reported feeling pressured to provide DNA evidence even when eyewitness testimony
is available. In one highly publicized incident, Los Angeles District Attorney
Steve Cooley
blamed actor Robert Blake
's acquittal on murder charges on the CSI effect. Cooley noted that the not guilty verdict came despite two witness accounts of Blake's guilt, and claimed that the jury members were "incredibly stupid".
By 2005, some prosecutors had begun altering their trial preparations and procedures in an attempt to counter the CSI effect. Some ask questions about forensic television viewership during voir dire
to target biased jurors; others use opening statement
s and closing argument
s to minimize the possible impact of the CSI effect, and instruct jurors to adhere to the court's standards of evidence rather than those seen on television. Prosecutors have even hired expert witness
es to explain why particular forms of physical evidence are not relevant to their cases. In one Australian murder case, the defense counsel requested a judge-only trial to avoid having DNA evidence misinterpreted by a jury. By 2006, the CSI effect had become widely accepted as reality among legal professionals, despite little empirical evidence
to validate or disprove it. A 2008 survey by researcher Monica Robbers showed that roughly 80 percent of all American legal professionals believed they had had decisions affected by forensic television programs.
New York University
professor Tom R. Tyler argued that, from a psychological standpoint, crime shows are more likely to increase the rate of convictions than acquittals, as the shows promote a sense of justice and closure which is not attained when a jury acquits a defendant. The perceived rise in the rate of acquittals may be related to sympathy for the defendant or declining confidence in legal authorities. A 2006 survey of U.S. university students reached a similar conclusion: the influence of CSI is unlikely to burden prosecutors, and may actually help them.
One of the largest empirical studies of the CSI effect was undertaken in 2006 by Washtenaw County
Circuit Court Judge Donald Shelton and two researchers from Eastern Michigan University
. They surveyed more than 1,000 jurors, and found that while juror expectations for forensic evidence had increased, there was no correlation between viewership of crime shows and tendency to convict. One alternate explanation for the changing perception of forensic evidence is the so-called "tech effect": as technology improves and becomes more prevalent throughout society, people develop higher expectations for the capabilities of forensic technology. Shelton described one instance in which a jury member complained because the prosecution had not dusted
the lawn for fingerprints, a procedure which is impossible and had not been demonstrated on any crime show. A later study by the same authors found that frequent CSI viewers may place a lower value on circumstantial evidence
, but their viewership had no influence on their evaluation of eyewitness testimony or their tendency to convict in cases with multiple types of evidence.
Many stories about the CSI effect assume that there has been an increase in acquittal rates, though this is often based entirely on anecdotal evidence
. A 2009 study of conviction statistics in eight states found that, contrary to the opinions of criminal prosecutors, the acquittal rate has decreased in the years since the debut of CSI. The outcome of any given trial is much more strongly dependent on the state in which it took place, rather than whether it occurred before or after the CSI premiere. A 2010 study by the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee suggests that, while there may be a correlation between crime show viewership and a perceived understanding of DNA evidence, there was no evidence that such viewership affected jury decision making. As of August 2010, no empirical evidence has demonstrated a correlation between CSI viewership and acquittal rates. One researcher suggested that the perception of a CSI effect—and of other courtroom effects, such as Perry Mason syndrome
and white coat syndrome—is caused not by the incompetence of jury members, but by a general distrust of the jury system as a whole.
in a science, followed by a master's degree
. However, the popularity of programs such as CSI has caused an increase in the demand for undergraduate courses and graduate programs in forensic science. In 2004, the forensics programs at Florida International University
and the University of California, Davis
doubled in size, reportedly as a result of the CSI effect. However, many students enter such programs with unrealistic expectations. Vocational interest in forensic science has proliferated among students in countries besides the United States, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The increased popularity of the forensic science program at the University of Lausanne
in Switzerland has also been attributed to the CSI effect.
Although the increased popularity of forensics programs means there are more applicants for jobs at crime labs, there is some concern that these courses do not adequately prepare students for real forensics work, as graduates often lack a firm grasp of basic scientific principles that would come from a science degree. Many forensics students are presented with streamlined exercises with overly clear answers, which may give them distorted perceptions of the power of forensic science. The Albuquerque Police Department has attempted to improve scientific literacy
among future forensic scientists and jurors alike by developing a "Citizen CSI" course which familiarizes local citizens with the "capabilities and limitations of authentic forensic science techniques."
While forensic crime shows are often criticized for portraying technologies that do not exist, these may inspire inventors and research teams, as it is not uncommon for scientific innovations to be first portrayed in science fiction. In 2006, IBM
and the Memphis Police Department
developed software to predict crime locations and time frames, an idea from the 2002 science fiction film Minority Report
.
cases in the United States were solved by police. By 2005, the solve rate had fallen to 41.3 percent. Some investigators attributed this decline to the CSI effect, as crime shows often explain in detail how criminals can conceal or destroy evidence. Several rape victims have reported that their assailants forced them to shower or clean themselves with bleach after their assaults. In December 2005, Jermaine McKinney broke into a home in Trumbull County
, Ohio
, where he murdered two women. A fan of CSI, McKinney went to unusual lengths to remove evidence of his crime: he cleaned his hands with bleach, burned the bodies and his clothing, and attempted to dispose of the murder weapon in a lake. McKinney was eventually apprehended. Ray Peavy, head of the Los Angeles County homicide division, commented that, in addition to teaching criminals how to conceal evidence, crime shows may even "encourage them when they see how simple it is to get away with [it] on television."
Others argue that shows like CSI are not having any educational effect on criminals. Max Houck, director of the Forensic Science Initiative at West Virginia University
, said although CSI may be educating criminals, people who resort to a life of crime generally are not very intelligent to begin with. It is also possible that crime shows have the opposite effect, if attempts to conceal evidence generate more evidence. Houck gave an example of criminals who avoided licking envelopes because of the DNA in their saliva, but left fingerprints and hair samples on adhesive tape instead. Tammy Klein, the lead investigator on the McKinney case, said that the killings she investigates are committed by people "who for the most part are pretty stupid." Larry Pozner, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
, argued that because people who commit violent crimes generally do not take precautions, television forensics programs are unlikely to have any effect on their behavior.
Convicted rapist Jonathan Haynes forced his victims to destroy forensic evidence. He was only caught after one of his victims deliberately pulled out her own hair which was later discovered in his car, tying him to the attacks. She was inspired by watching the C.S.I. television series.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
influences public perception. The term most often refers to the belief that jurors
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
have come to demand more forensic evidence in criminal trials, thereby raising the effective standard of proof for prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
s. While this belief is widely held among American legal professionals, some studies have suggested that crime shows are unlikely to cause such an effect, although frequent CSI viewers may place a lower value on circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
. As technology improves and becomes more prevalent throughout society, people may also develop higher expectations for the capabilities of forensic technology.
There are several other manifestations of the CSI effect. Greater public awareness of forensic science has also increased the demand for forensic evidence in police investigations, boosting workloads for crime lab
Crime Lab
A crime laboratory - often shortened to crime lab - is a scientific laboratory, using primarily forensic science for the purpose of examining evidence from criminal cases.- Lab personnel :A typical crime lab has two sets of personnel:...
oratories. The number and popularity of forensic science programs at the university level have greatly increased worldwide, though some new programs have been criticized for inadequately preparing their students for real forensic work. It is possible that forensic science shows teach criminals how to conceal evidence of their crimes, thereby making it more difficult for investigators to solve cases.
Background
The CSI effect is named for CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, a television program which first aired in 2000. In CSI, a fictional team of crime scene investigators solve murders in the Las Vegas metropolitan area
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
. In each episode, the discovery of a dead body leads to a criminal investigation by members of the team, who gather and analyze forensic evidence, question witnesses, and apprehend suspects. The show's popularity led to two spin-offs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
: CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, which debuted in 2002, and CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
, first aired in 2004. The CSI franchise's success resulted in the production of many similar shows; in turn, the "CSI effect" has been associated with other crime shows, including American Justice
American Justice
American Justice is an American criminal justice television program on the A&E Network, hosted by Bill Kurtis. The show features interesting or notable cases, such as the Selena Murder of a Star, Scarsdale Diet doctor murder, the Hillside Stranglers, Matthew Shepard, or the Wells Fargo heist, with...
, Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, Cold Case, Cold Case Files
Cold Case Files
Cold Case Files is documentary television series on the cable channel A&E Network hosted by Bill Kurtis that documents the investigation of various long-unsolved murders through the use of modern forensic science , and criminal psychology, in addition to recent breakthroughs in the...
, Cold Squad
Cold Squad
Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick .The cast of Cold Squad was...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...
, Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV...
, NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
, Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
, The Secrets of Forensic Science, Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
, Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood was a British crime drama television series, devised and produced by Coastal Productions for the ITV network that ran from 2002 to 2009. The series is based on characters created by Val McDermid; a university clinical psychologist, Dr Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill , is teamed with...
, and Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...
. Based on the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, six of the top ten most popular television shows in the United States in 2005 were crime dramas, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation reached the number one ranking in November 2007.
Several aspects of popular crime shows have been criticized as being unrealistic. In real investigations, DNA and fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
data are often unobtainable and, when they are available, can take several weeks to process, whereas television crime lab
Crime Lab
A crime laboratory - often shortened to crime lab - is a scientific laboratory, using primarily forensic science for the purpose of examining evidence from criminal cases.- Lab personnel :A typical crime lab has two sets of personnel:...
s usually get results within hours. In the first season of CSI, technicians made a plaster mold
Plaster cast
A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – particularly in palaeontology .Sometimes a...
of the interior of a wound to determine the type of knife used to make the wound, which is not possible with current technology. Characters on television often use the word "match" to describe a definitive relationship between two pieces of evidence, whereas real forensic technicians can only say that one piece of evidence "is associated with" another, to avoid associating themselves with potential error.
Anthony E. Zuiker
Anthony E. Zuiker
Anthony E. Zuiker is the creator and executive producer of the American television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He produces all three editions of the CSI franchise: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY...
, creator of the CSI franchise, claimed that "all of the science is accurate" on the shows; researchers, however, have described CSI portrayal of forensic science as "high-tech magic". Forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello estimated that 40 percent of the scientific techniques depicted on CSI do not exist. In addition to using unrealistic techniques, CSI ignores all elements of uncertainty present in real investigations, and instead portrays experimental results as absolute truth. The notion that these inaccurate portrayals could alter the public perception of forensic evidence was dubbed the "CSI effect", a term which began to appear in mainstream media as early as 2004. By 2009, more than 250 stories about the CSI effect had appeared in newspapers and magazines, including articles in National Geographic, Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
, and U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
.
Although the CSI effect is a recent phenomenon, it has long been recognized that media portrayals of the United States legal system
United States legal system
The United States legal system is the full interconnected system of judicial, regulatory and governmental authorities who together administer and enforce the laws of the United States, operate the judicial system, and resolve judicial disputes and appeals...
are capable of significantly altering public awareness, knowledge, and opinions of it. A 2002 juror survey showed that viewers of the popular court show Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
were greatly misinformed about the purpose of the judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
within a courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
. Earlier programs which may have affected public perception of "the legal or investigative systems" include Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
(1957–66) and Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
(1976–83). News media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
reports on criminal trials, extensive internet blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ging, and the successes of the Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
have also contributed to the increased public awareness of forensic science. Zuiker has stated that "'The CSI Effect' is, in my opinion, the most amazing thing that has ever come out of the series."
Trials
The popularity of forensic crime television shows supposedly gives rise to many misconceptions about the nature of forensic science and investigation procedures among jury members. The CSI effect is hypothesized to affect verdicts in two main ways: first, that jurors expect more forensic evidence than is available or necessary, resulting in a higher rate of acquittalAcquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
when such evidence is absent; and second, that jurors have greater confidence in forensic and particularly DNA evidence than is warranted, resulting in a higher rate of conviction
Conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
when such evidence is present. While these and other effects may be caused by crime shows, the most commonly reported effect is that jurors are wrongly acquitting defendants despite overwhelming evidence of guilt. In particular, prosecutors have reported feeling pressured to provide DNA evidence even when eyewitness testimony
Eyewitness testimony
Research in eyewitness testimony is mostly considered a subfield within legal psychology, however it is a field with very broad implications. Human reports are normally based on visual perception, which is generally held to be very reliable...
is available. In one highly publicized incident, Los Angeles District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
Steve Cooley
Steve Cooley
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Cooley is an American politician. As a Republican, he has been a prosecutor for 27 years and has been the Los Angeles County District Attorney since his election in 2000, in which he defeated incumbent two-term District Attorney Gil Garcetti, a Democrat...
blamed actor Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
's acquittal on murder charges on the CSI effect. Cooley noted that the not guilty verdict came despite two witness accounts of Blake's guilt, and claimed that the jury members were "incredibly stupid".
By 2005, some prosecutors had begun altering their trial preparations and procedures in an attempt to counter the CSI effect. Some ask questions about forensic television viewership during voir dire
Voir dire
Voir dire is a phrase in law which comes from the Anglo-Norman language. In origin it refers to an oath to tell the truth , i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both....
to target biased jurors; others use opening statement
Opening statement
An opening statement is generally the first occasion that the trier of fact has to hear from a lawyer in a trial, aside possibly from questioning during voir dire. The opening statement is generally constructed to serve as a "road map" for the fact-finder...
s and closing argument
Closing argument
A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of evidence...
s to minimize the possible impact of the CSI effect, and instruct jurors to adhere to the court's standards of evidence rather than those seen on television. Prosecutors have even hired expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
es to explain why particular forms of physical evidence are not relevant to their cases. In one Australian murder case, the defense counsel requested a judge-only trial to avoid having DNA evidence misinterpreted by a jury. By 2006, the CSI effect had become widely accepted as reality among legal professionals, despite little empirical evidence
Empirical research
Empirical research is a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. Empirical evidence can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively...
to validate or disprove it. A 2008 survey by researcher Monica Robbers showed that roughly 80 percent of all American legal professionals believed they had had decisions affected by forensic television programs.
New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
professor Tom R. Tyler argued that, from a psychological standpoint, crime shows are more likely to increase the rate of convictions than acquittals, as the shows promote a sense of justice and closure which is not attained when a jury acquits a defendant. The perceived rise in the rate of acquittals may be related to sympathy for the defendant or declining confidence in legal authorities. A 2006 survey of U.S. university students reached a similar conclusion: the influence of CSI is unlikely to burden prosecutors, and may actually help them.
One of the largest empirical studies of the CSI effect was undertaken in 2006 by Washtenaw County
Washtenaw County, Michigan
Washtenaw County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 344,791. Its county seat is Ann Arbor. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines the county as part of the Detroit–Warren–Flint Combined Statistical Area...
Circuit Court Judge Donald Shelton and two researchers from Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
. They surveyed more than 1,000 jurors, and found that while juror expectations for forensic evidence had increased, there was no correlation between viewership of crime shows and tendency to convict. One alternate explanation for the changing perception of forensic evidence is the so-called "tech effect": as technology improves and becomes more prevalent throughout society, people develop higher expectations for the capabilities of forensic technology. Shelton described one instance in which a jury member complained because the prosecution had not dusted
Fingerprint powder
Fingerprint powders are fine powders used in dusting for fingerprints by crime scene investigators and others in law enforcement. The process of dusting for fingerprints involves various methods intended to get the particles of the powder to adhere to residue left by friction ridge skin on the...
the lawn for fingerprints, a procedure which is impossible and had not been demonstrated on any crime show. A later study by the same authors found that frequent CSI viewers may place a lower value on circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
, but their viewership had no influence on their evaluation of eyewitness testimony or their tendency to convict in cases with multiple types of evidence.
Many stories about the CSI effect assume that there has been an increase in acquittal rates, though this is often based entirely on anecdotal evidence
Anecdotal evidence
The expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. Because of the small sample, there is a larger chance that it may be true but unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise unrepresentative of typical cases....
. A 2009 study of conviction statistics in eight states found that, contrary to the opinions of criminal prosecutors, the acquittal rate has decreased in the years since the debut of CSI. The outcome of any given trial is much more strongly dependent on the state in which it took place, rather than whether it occurred before or after the CSI premiere. A 2010 study by the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee suggests that, while there may be a correlation between crime show viewership and a perceived understanding of DNA evidence, there was no evidence that such viewership affected jury decision making. As of August 2010, no empirical evidence has demonstrated a correlation between CSI viewership and acquittal rates. One researcher suggested that the perception of a CSI effect—and of other courtroom effects, such as Perry Mason syndrome
Perry Mason syndrome
Perry Mason syndrome is the manner in which the popular television crime drama Perry Mason may have affected perceptions of the United States legal system among defendants and jurors.-Typical Perry Mason episode:...
and white coat syndrome—is caused not by the incompetence of jury members, but by a general distrust of the jury system as a whole.
Academia
The CSI effect has influenced the manner in which forensic scientists are educated and trained. In the past, those who sought to enter the field of forensics typically earned an undergraduate degreeUndergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
in a science, followed by a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
. However, the popularity of programs such as CSI has caused an increase in the demand for undergraduate courses and graduate programs in forensic science. In 2004, the forensics programs at Florida International University
Florida International University
Florida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...
and the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
doubled in size, reportedly as a result of the CSI effect. However, many students enter such programs with unrealistic expectations. Vocational interest in forensic science has proliferated among students in countries besides the United States, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The increased popularity of the forensic science program at the University of Lausanne
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
in Switzerland has also been attributed to the CSI effect.
Although the increased popularity of forensics programs means there are more applicants for jobs at crime labs, there is some concern that these courses do not adequately prepare students for real forensics work, as graduates often lack a firm grasp of basic scientific principles that would come from a science degree. Many forensics students are presented with streamlined exercises with overly clear answers, which may give them distorted perceptions of the power of forensic science. The Albuquerque Police Department has attempted to improve scientific literacy
Scientific literacy
Scientific literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories.-Definition:...
among future forensic scientists and jurors alike by developing a "Citizen CSI" course which familiarizes local citizens with the "capabilities and limitations of authentic forensic science techniques."
While forensic crime shows are often criticized for portraying technologies that do not exist, these may inspire inventors and research teams, as it is not uncommon for scientific innovations to be first portrayed in science fiction. In 2006, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and the Memphis Police Department
Memphis Police Department
The Memphis Police Department is the law enforcement agency of the City of Memphis, Tennessee.-Administrative Services:Provides services that enable the other programs to effectively respond to service calls...
developed software to predict crime locations and time frames, an idea from the 2002 science fiction film Minority Report
Minority Report (film)
Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C...
.
Crimes
The CSI effect may alter how crimes are committed. In 2000, the year that CSI: Crime Scene Investigation debuted, 46.9 percent of all rapeRape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
cases in the United States were solved by police. By 2005, the solve rate had fallen to 41.3 percent. Some investigators attributed this decline to the CSI effect, as crime shows often explain in detail how criminals can conceal or destroy evidence. Several rape victims have reported that their assailants forced them to shower or clean themselves with bleach after their assaults. In December 2005, Jermaine McKinney broke into a home in Trumbull County
Trumbull County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 225,116 people, 89,020 households, and 61,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 365 people per square mile . There were 95,117 housing units at an average density of 154 per square mile...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, where he murdered two women. A fan of CSI, McKinney went to unusual lengths to remove evidence of his crime: he cleaned his hands with bleach, burned the bodies and his clothing, and attempted to dispose of the murder weapon in a lake. McKinney was eventually apprehended. Ray Peavy, head of the Los Angeles County homicide division, commented that, in addition to teaching criminals how to conceal evidence, crime shows may even "encourage them when they see how simple it is to get away with [it] on television."
Others argue that shows like CSI are not having any educational effect on criminals. Max Houck, director of the Forensic Science Initiative at West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
, said although CSI may be educating criminals, people who resort to a life of crime generally are not very intelligent to begin with. It is also possible that crime shows have the opposite effect, if attempts to conceal evidence generate more evidence. Houck gave an example of criminals who avoided licking envelopes because of the DNA in their saliva, but left fingerprints and hair samples on adhesive tape instead. Tammy Klein, the lead investigator on the McKinney case, said that the killings she investigates are committed by people "who for the most part are pretty stupid." Larry Pozner, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is an American criminal defense organization. Their stated mission is to "Ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime. Foster the integrity, independence and expertise of the criminal defense profession...
, argued that because people who commit violent crimes generally do not take precautions, television forensics programs are unlikely to have any effect on their behavior.
Convicted rapist Jonathan Haynes forced his victims to destroy forensic evidence. He was only caught after one of his victims deliberately pulled out her own hair which was later discovered in his car, tying him to the attacks. She was inspired by watching the C.S.I. television series.