Question

How true to life do you think television shows such as CSI or Law & Order are in their portrayals of eyewitnesses?

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- I need answer to be at least 200 words long and thanks a lot

Answer 1

The crime scene analysis portrayed in many shows like CSI, may appear true to life. However, many police officers and detectives, law enforcement officials etc say that these portrayal are actually more closer to fiction than fact. Therefore,their portrayals of eyewitnesses actually make good TV but not necessarily are real. However, these shows also depict that eyewitness testimonies are not fully reliable since memory can be disrupted resulting in confabulation and memory distortions. Therefore, media today takes the help of the scientific discoveries which have helped in every human endeavor. This, I feel is a correct portrayal of the eyewitness testimonies and their susceptibility to mistakes and forgetting. Therefore, the shows rightly portray how hard scientific evidence like DNA testing, etc are required before a judgement is reached. In fact a term has come up which is known as the 'CSI effect' where, the exaggerated portrayals have influenced the general public's perception of the legal process. A research was conducted and it was found that, in non-rape cases shown in CSI, viewers were more likely to believe in the eyewitness testimonies (to be realistic), even without scientific evidence.