CSI-Generation Juries

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2006

Subject: LCSH

CSI, crime scene investigation (Television program), Jury

Disciplines

Forensic Science and Technology

Abstract

This chapter compares the investigative and courtroom techniques of yesterday with today’s. On television and in books and movies, where it is as simple as solving a case with a solution predetermined by the author, the change in method doesn’t matter. In reality, where the expectations, perceptions, and opinions of the jury interact with a complicated legal system and highly technical scientific procedures, a verdict is not so easily reached. Thus, the dramatic changes in how we get a conviction today versus fifty years ago have more to do with the process, or what we expect in the way of proof. Many factors underlie these differences, but this discussion will address two key issues: the integration of new technologies in the war on crime, and public perceptions, expectations, and bias in response to a shift away from more traditional investigative techniques to those based in science and technology.

Publisher Citation

Palmbach, T. CSI-Generation Juries. In Cortez, D., & Wilson, L. (2006). Investigating CSI: An unauthorized look inside the crime labs of Las Vegas, Miami, and New York. Dallas, Tex.: BenBella Books, pp. 53-64.

Share

COinS