This is my own research and my own opinions on what the CSI Effect is and how it is affecting the world we live in as Americans.
The American public does not understand the criminal justice system because of several reasons, one being because of the media’s constant presence in the lives of Americans. It is a well-known belief that Americans watch a lot of television that is not beneficial to the understanding of the criminal justice system.
Figure 13. This is an infographic on the The CSI Effect.
Americans get most of their knowledge about the criminal justice system from television because most people in all actuality do not know any better. There is a lot of ignorance regarding the criminal justice system because many have had bad experiences with the system or don’t want to understand it. Connie L. McNeely in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara wrote in her article “PERCEPTIONS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: Television Imagery and Public Knowledge in the United States” in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture that because of this ignorance there is a large gap between what people actually know and think they know, about the criminal justice system (1995). Some people don’t want to admit that what they see on television is not complete fact says jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn, of Lewisville, Texas. “Now that there’s this almost obsession with the (TV) shows, you can talk to jurors about (scientific [forensic] evidence) and just see from the looks on their faces that they find it fascinating” (Willing, 2004). But some lawyers say CSI and like shows make jurors rely too heavily on scientific findings and unwilling to accept that those findings can be compromised by human or technical errors. “Indeed, in some ways, the most direct “contact” that most persons have with the criminal justice system is through the ‘television experience’” (McNeely, 1995). This is evident in our nation’s inner working. Many people know a lot about the criminal justice system or at least they think do.
The American public does not understand the criminal justice system because of several reasons, one being because of the media’s constant presence in the lives of Americans. It is a well-known belief that Americans watch a lot of television that is not beneficial to the understanding of the criminal justice system. In America, television access is extremely prevalent. According to Colorado Technical University, 31% of Americans own four or more television sets (Figure 13). This amount of constant access to television is overwhelming. The more televisions that are available to be watched reflects the amount of viewers a television station has.
Television crime dramas are often watched even though they are highly inaccurate. Television is made to catch the eye and to be entertaining instead of informational, so accuracy is not extremely important. According to Colorado Technical University of Criminal Justice, the popularity of television crime dramas is troublesome since they do not show the real not so entertaining aspect of law. This act of misinformation has paid off since 60% of television shows in 2005 were crime dramas. The popularity of television crime dramas not showing the real angle of law paid off as well because as of June 13th, 2011 three out of the top five broadcast TV shows were crime dramas (Figure 13).
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