FSC100H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Arthur Conan Doyle, Forensic Pathology, Csi Effect
Ethics and Impacts
Media Impact
➢ Media impacting criminal justice system and crime scene investigation
❖ News headlines
❖ Social media
➢ Before the CSI craze
❖ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
❖ Sherlock Holmes
❖ Foresight into future forensic techniques
➢ Perry Manson
❖ Perception of court system
➢ Quincy M.E.
❖ Forensic pathology
The CSI Juggernaut
➢ CSI First aired on October 6,2000
❖ 15 seasons, over 350 episodes
❖ at one point had averaged viewing audience of 9 million people
❖ CSI Miami, CSI NY, CSI Cyber
➢ Other primetime shows
❖ Criminal minds, True detective, Sherlock, Bones, Dexter, Elementary
➢ “Infotainment”
❖ highly stylized, edited, and formatted
❖ made to appear informative and realistic
➢ popularity -> effect on society
CSI TV Myths
➢ sometimes technologies displayed do not exist
❖ as much as 40% of science on CSI does not match
➢ if exists, done in ways only wished were true
❖ time needed
❖ provide more ambiguous answers than displayed
❖ “MATCH”
❖ How chemical and material actually behave
➢ Injury molds into soft tissue
➢ Developmental stage of certain technology
❖ Scent detection
➢ Hybrid roles of investigators
Real Life/Real Cases
➢ Forensic files started in Fall 2001
➢ Advertised as “Real life “CSI
➢ Other shows: cold case files, American Justice, 48 hours
➢ Highly publicized trials have also garnered public attention and drawn people into
trials:
❖ Casey Anthony
❖ Aaron Hernandez
❖ Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
❖ Conrad Murray
The CSI Effect
➢ Combination of effects related to UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
➢ Increasing prosecutors burden of proof
➢ “where’s the DNA”?
➢ Shifting from “beyond reasonable doubt” to “beyond any doubt”
➢ Presenting an air/appearance of infallibility in forensic science
➢ Perceived single, objective, beautiful, correct answer
➢ Reducing role of human error while heightening expertise status of investigators
Impact of CSI Effect
➢ Degree of CSI Effect is not agreed upon
❖ Too much credit given to a medium to shape/effect society as much?
❖ Some forensic science principles and practises are quite old... why effect now?
➢ Consider to your own conclusions as to the degree to which it exists
❖ You experience, training, knowledge
❖ Information presented in class and in readings
Impact of CSI Effect in Court
➢ Jurors know or think they know forensic science and the science necessary to
solve crimes (can be both a good and a bad thing)
➢ Unrealistic expectations
❖ If there is a DNA link, then suspect guilty
❖ But might be a plausible explanation for the suspect’s DNA being present
➢ Affects voir dire process
❖ Potential jurors now asked if they watch crime drama shows
❖ Asked if crown/state must present scientific evidence to find defendant guilty
Impact of CSI Effect Prosecution Perspective
➢ Public fails to realize that many cases go unsolved and many cases do not
have a physical evidence
➢ Prosecutors claim juries expecting scientific evidence in every case (e.g.
DNA, GSR, Fingerprints)
➢ Pressure to supply more forensic evidence
➢ Tell juries what kind of evidence they can expect to see during trial
➢ Prosecutors have begun using “negative witnesses”
