I may be the only person in America who has never seen an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Nonetheless, I am interested in the so-called CSI effect. As The Economist explains in this succinct article, jurors who have been exposed to television crime dramas may have unrealistic expectations about the ability of forensic science to provide complete certainty about who perpetrated a given crime. In other words, jurors may expect a scientific "match" -- or a scientific exclusion -- even when such an expectation is unfounded. I say "may" because there is considerable controversy about whether there is a CSI effect; the extent of any such effect; and which side is benefited by any such effect. See generally State v. Cooke, 914 A.2d 1078 (Del. Super. Ct. 2007) (summarizing studies on both sides). I'm not well-informed enough to have reached any firm conclusions about those questions, and I'll keep my speculation to myself. Instead, I'll focus on the concrete steps that some prosecutors, judges, and others have taken to address the CSI effect. 1. Some prosecutors are asking jurors about CSI during voir dire. For example, in Goff v. State, 14 So.3d 625 (Miss. 2009), the prosecutor asked prospective jurors whether they watched CSI; whether they "can separate what they see on TV from what [they] see in the courtroom"; and whether they would decide the case based on the evidence presented without speculating about evidence that was not presented. During closing arguments, the prosecutro reminded the jurors about what [...]
Faculty Coordinators
