The “CSI” Effect on the Psychology of Jurors: The Challenges that Pop Culture is Bringing to the Courtroom James McGrath, JD, MPH Texas Wesleyan University.

The “CSI” Effect on the Psychology of Jurors: The

Challenges that Pop Culture is Bringing to the Courtroom

James McGrath, JD, MPHTexas Wesleyan University School of

Law

Forensic Science

The application of a broad range of sciences

to answer legal questions

Used for both criminal and civil cases

Dates back to Aristotle

Popularized with the DNA evidence in the OJ

Simpson trial

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

One of the most watched shows in television history

Has several spin off shows all of which are usually in the top spot in their time slot

Different from other crime dramas such as Law and Order because it follows the story more through forensics than it follows people and the court proceedings

CSI and the Courtroom

Experts have claimed an incidence of the “CSI Effect” in courtrooms– Trend in which TV shows increase the

expectations of victims’ and jury members’ concerning forensic evidence and the level of crime scene investigation

– Trials are being presented differently at trial

CSI and the Courtroom

Also from the criminal’s perspective

Increase in crime scenes where the evidence has been tampered with or completely destroyed

•Burning scenes

•Using bleach

•Vacuuming carpet and removing the vacuum cleaner

CSI and the Courtroom

Criminal Perspective: Actual CaseMurder Case in Trumbull County, OH

Mother and daughter murderedPerpetrator:

Used bleach to wash handsCovered car interior with blankets preventing transferBurned bodies, clothes, and other potential evidenceAttempted to sink remaining evidence in a lake

CSI and the Courtroom

Juror perspective– Expect to see solid physical

evidence indicating the defendant•Likely to ignore circumstantial evidence

– Always assume DNA evidence should be found at the scene•If physical evidence is found, it is now

much less likely to be questioned by jurors

CSI Effect - Many Definitions

The best-known definition states that CSI creates unreasonable expectations on the part of jurors, making it more difficult for prosecutors to obtain convictions.

The second definition, which runs contrary to the first, refers to the way that CSI raises the stature of scientific evidence to virtual infallibility, thus making scientific evidence impenetrable.

The final definition focuses on CSI's increasing lay interest in forensics and science. Thus, viewers who serve as jurors will be more interested in and able to follow scientific evidence. They may even become interested in academic training and careers in the forensics field.

Baltimore Case

"I've seen a big change in jurors and what they expect over the last five years," defense attorney Joseph Levin of Atlantic City, N.J., told a local newspaper. "Jurors can ask questions of the judge while in deliberations, and they're asking about what they see as missing evidence. They want to know where the fingerprints are or the DNA. If it's not there, they want to know why."

Robert Blake CaseQuote from juror “I would have liked more

of the kind of evidence I have seen in

the cases on ‘CSI’, I just expected more”

Jurors dismissed circumstantial

evidence

More often than not, there is little

physical evidence linking defendant

directly to the crime

Media Influence. Real?

Nation of ViewersStudies:

Views on Crime“Reality” Court ShowsCultivation TheoryPretrial Publicity

Forensic evidence

Typewriter stolen from frat house

Body found in culvertBlood in carBlood on hammerLeopold’s glasses

The confessions

After finding Leopold’s glasses, both boys are taken into custody.

They have alibis, but the alibis weaken and they tell the truth.

Both are arrested, plead “not guilty” and are to be tried together.

Clarence DarrowAmerica’s best defense

attorneyWell read, well likedVery anti-death penalty

Darrow walked in and plead “guilty.”

The Alienists were called in to testify about their mental well being.

Darrow’s closing argument took 12 hours, and at the end the judge and 2 jury members were in tears

Sentencing

They were sentenced to 99 years.The were sent to the Joliet

Penitentiary.Their prison home was “countryclub-

esque”Loeb was murdered in the shower.Leopold taught other inmates to read,

sets up library, volunteers, etc. Released 30 years later.

In a survey of the 500 people in the jury pool, the defense found that about 70% were viewers of CBS' CSI or similar shows such as Court TV's Forensic Files or NBC's Law & Order

In Baltimore for example – less than 10% of homicide cases in the state attorney general’s office in 2004 involved fingerprint or DNA evidence. Evidence more likely to be circumstantial or reliant on eyewitnesses.

CSI

• Myth 1: Laboratory Personnel can examine evidence as soon as it gets to the lab

• Usually takes months before time permits an examination of the evidence due to back logs and quality control procedures

CSI

• Myth 2: One person can examine all types of evidence

• There are few ‘generalists’ in today’s forensics

• The expertise required for each section of forensics sometimes requires one piece of evidence to be examined by more than one individual

CSI• Myth 3: Fingerprints susceptible to

testing and identification are always found

• Finding identifiable fingerprints that can be collected and are of a high enough quality to do an automated search are rare

• Normally fingerprint comparison must be done by ‘hand’

CSI• Myth 4: Testing for drugs and

chemicals in blood is quick and easy• Numerous drugs, botanicals,

chemicals that can be presented at any given crime scene

• Numerous instruments to identify these various compounds

• Process often takes weeks or months to complete

CSIMyth 5: The cooperative crime scene• The ‘perfect’ evidence is rarely there• Technology has greatly improved

evidence collection but no technological advancements can find nonexistent evidence

• Time between occurrence and discovery of the crime is the biggest factor

CSIMyth 6: The fully equipped crime lab• TV forensic labs are always fully

equipped with the most up to date technology

• Even the labs with the largest budgets cannot afford to have the same lab quality as the labs on TV dramas

• Shortages occur with building space, funds, equipment and proficient personnel

CSIMyth 7: Use and availability of some

sensors• Some of the sensors used are actually

prototypes still in the developmental stages and are not on the market yet

• The accuracy and power of some sensors has been enhanced beyond what they are currently capable of detecting

CSI Website

Acknowledges some errors . . .

Good evening.  I'm sorry I don't know the name of the episode but it is the one where the paraglider falls to his death.  Anyway, on the part where Marg Helgenberger investigates the guy shot with the .50 cal gun.  When she approached the body she said the injury was through and through.  There is no way to know that without turning the body over.  Also, that entry wound was NOT that large.  By the way, I am a general surgeon and I have treated a lot of gunshot wounds.  Thank you and good night. Alan W, MD

When Grissom mentions on one episode that "Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider back in the fifties" he was wrong. The first issue of any comic book to feature Spider-man was "Amazing Fantasy #15" which came out in 1963. Hayward Simpson.

Another Effect:Increased Public

Awareness of Forensics Some people now look forward to

jury dutyBetter sense of investigationsPopularized investigatory science

programsShifting demographics in forensics

field

Actual Studies

Two studiesNot terribly well designed (IMHO)Do not show the complained of

effectIf anything, point to the opposite

effect

Efforts to Minimize Potential Effects

In Arizona, Illinois and California, prosecutors now use "negative evidence witnesses" to try to assure jurors that it is not unusual for real crime-scene investigators to fail to find DNA, fingerprints and other evidence at crime scenes.

In Massachusetts, prosecutors have begun to ask judges for permission to question prospective jurors about their TV-watching habits. Several states already allow that.