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CSI effect

The CSI effect describes the various ways in which the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influences public perception. The term was first reported in a 2004 USA Today article describing the effect being made on trial jurors by television programs featuring forensic science.[1]

It 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 prosecutors. 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.[2] As technology improves and becomes more prevalent throughout society, people may also develop higher expectations for the capabilities of forensic technology.[3] The CSI effect has also re-popularized the forensic sector of the criminal justice system in the media and academia.

Background[edit]

The CSI effect is named for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a television program which first aired in 2000. In CSI, a fictional team of "crime scene investigators" ("CSIs") solve murders in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. In each episode, the discovery of a human corpse leads to a criminal investigation by members of the team, who gather and analyze forensic evidence, question witnesses, and apprehend suspects.[4]: ch.IIA 


The fictional show's popularity led to three spin-offs: CSI: Miami, which debuted in 2002, CSI: NY, first aired in 2004, and CSI: Cyber, which premiered in 2015. In 2021, a new spinoff aired, CSI: Vegas, which brought back William Petersen and Jorja Fox, replaying their original roles as Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, respectively.


The CSI franchise's success resulted in the production of many similar shows.[5] The "CSI effect" has been associated with drama and true crime television series that preceded CSI, such as American Justice, Cold Case Files, Cold Squad, Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science, Forensic Files, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead; and others that followed, including Bones, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, NCIS, Numb3rs, Wire in the Blood, and Without a Trace.[6]: ch.2 [5][7]


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.[6]: ch.2 


Several aspects of popular crime shows have been criticized as being unrealistic. For instance, the show's fictional characters not only investigate ("process") crime scenes, but they also conduct raids, engage in suspect pursuit and arrest, interrogate suspects, and solve cases — which, in real life, falls under the responsibility of detectives and uniformed officers, not CSI personnel. Additionally, if CSIs process a crime scene, it is inappropriate for them to also be involved in the examination and testing of any evidence collected from that scene as it would compromise the impartiality of scientific evidence. In real investigations, DNA and fingerprint data are often unobtainable and, when they are available, can take several weeks or months to process, whereas television crime labs usually get results within hours.[8]


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.[9] Characters on television often use the word "match" to describe a definitive relationship between two pieces of evidence, whereas real forensic technicians tend to use terms that are less definite, which acknowledges that absolute certainty is often not possible.[10]


Anthony E. Zuiker, creator of the CSI franchise, claimed that "all of the science is accurate" on the shows;[11] researchers, however, have described CSI's portrayal of forensic science as "high-tech magic".[12] Forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello estimated that 40 percent of the scientific techniques depicted on CSI do not exist.[13] In addition to using unrealistic techniques, CSI ignores all elements of uncertainty present in real investigations, and instead portrays experimental results as absolute truth.[14]


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.[1][15][7]


Under this effect, victims and their families – and jurors – are coming to expect instant answers from showcased techniques such as DNA analysis and fingerprinting, when actual forensic processing often takes days or weeks, with no guarantee of revealing a "smoking gun" for the prosecution's case. District attorneys state that the conviction rate in cases with little physical evidence has decreased, largely due to the influence of CSI on jury members.[1]


By 2009 more than 250 stories about the CSI effect had appeared in newspapers and magazines,[16] including articles in National Geographic,[15] Scientific American,[17][18] and U.S. News & World Report.[19]

Manifestations[edit]

Trials[edit]

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.[6]: ch.2  The CSI effect is hypothesized to affect verdicts in two main ways: