Question

What is the CSI Effect?   This phenomenon has impacted the criminal justice system as a whole. The largest impacts are in law enforcement and the courts. Describe the negative and positive effects this phenomenon has had on the criminal justice system.

This is a criminal justice subject

Answer 1

CSI Effect- Television show like CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) had cultivated more unreasonable expectation about the forensic evidence in jurors. So, the prosecutors and other members of the law enforcement had complained against this show.

Jurors committee was expecting all and ultimate forensic proof of the crime. This kind of unreasonable expectation about the Forensic proof was considered as the effect of CSI. Law enforcement and the courts were highly effected by the show such as Crime Scene Investigation.

Positive effects –

Jurors knowledge was increased- CSI viewers were high expected about forensic or scientific evidence. They also had more superior legal information rather than Non- CSI viewers. According to a survey, CSI viewers were more expected about the relevant scientific evidence in a particular crime. As they were more expected, their knowledge about superior legal information and scientific evidences had increased.

Interest was increased- Crime show like CSI was increasing the awareness and interest of normal people about the legal and scientific investigation. They had started demanding forensic evidence in each and every crime. This CSI effect had increased the awareness and interest about the Forensic or scientific evidences.

Negative effects –

Difficulty in prosecute the defenders- Jurors now want more scientific evidences. Such as, they want Smoking gun and DNA evidence also. This kind of proof was very difficult to find. As these proofs are unmistakable so prosecutors were unable to present this proof in front of Jurors. So they had difficulties to prosecute their defenders.

Effects on the Budget- To complete the requirements of jurors, Some of the investigators had started some irrelevant testing to collect more forensic evidence. These tests were useless and the budget was highly affected In U.S.

Manipulating crimes - This show was accessible to all the citizens. So criminals were becoming more efficient in crime. They are becoming more skilled in doing crimes. They were aware about how to erase the crime proofs. Such as now criminals know how to wear a gloves and how this will protect them from leaving their fingerprints as a crime proof. So they were able to manipulate the crime scene now.

Law enforcement and defense team- Sometimes juries had faced difficulties to understand a forensic proof. So, the law enforcement and prosecutors team need to spend more time to educate the juries about the Forensic proof. This process was too much time taking. The defense team was spending their valuable time to clarify everything to juries. This was hampering the law enforcement system also.