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The CSI Effect: Popular Fiction About Forensic Science Affects Public Expectations About Real Forensic Science
Abstract
Two of a number of hypotheses loosely referred to as the CSI Effect suggest that the television program and its spin-offs, which wildy exaggerate and glorify forensic science, affect the public, and in turn affect trials either by (a) burdening the prosecution by creating greater expectations about forensic science than can be delivered or (b) burden the defense by creating exaggerated faith in the capabilities and reliability of the forensic sciences. Surprisingly, no published empirical research puts these hypotheses to a test. The present study did so by presenting to mock jurors a simulated trial transcript which included the testimony of a forensic scientist. The case for conviction was relatively weak, unless the expert testimony could carry the case across the threshold of reasonable doubt. In addition to reacting to the trial evidence, respondents were asked about their television viewing habits. Findings: Compared to non-CSI viewers, CSI viewers were more critical of the forensic evidence presented at the trial, finding it less believable. Regarding their verdicts, 29% of non-CSI viewers said they would convict, compared to 18% of CSI viewers (not a statistically significant difference). Forensic science viewers expressed more confidence in their verdicts than did non-viewers. Viewers of general crime program, however, did not differ significantly from their non-viewing counterparts on any of the other dependent measures, suggesting that skepticism toward the forensic science testimony was specific to those whose diet consisted of heavy doses of forensic science television programs.
... In light of these turbulent times and the shift in policy makers' approach to forensic science, it may well be asked how the general public perceives forensic evidence. Are ordinary citizens overcome by idealized views regarding the accuracy of forensic sciences (as might be expected given the surge of police investigation television shows; Cole and Dioso-Villa 2006;Schweitzer and Saks 2007), or have they become aware of the growing criticism and recognition of the field's limitations? Moreover, how accurate is the public in its evaluation of forensic sciences compared to the scientific assessment of these fields? ...
... To date, numerous studies have focused on the attitudes of the general public toward forensic science within the context of the so-called "CSI [crime scene investigation] effect" (Cole and Dioso-Villa 2006;Schweitzer and Saks 2007). This effect was named after the popular television programme CSI and its spin-offs, which bring forensic sciences into the spotlight and glorify their effectiveness, thus potentially creating unrealistic expectations regarding their utility and accuracy. ...
... These expectations, in turn, place a burden on the prosecution to bring forensic evidence indicating the suspect's guilt (i.e. if there is no damning forensic evidence, the accused person must be innocent). Alternatively, they may create an almost blind faith in the reliability of forensic practices, which places a burden on the defence (i.e. if there is damning forensic evidence, the accused person must be guilty; Cole and Dioso-Villa 2006;Schweitzer and Saks 2007). ...
Forensic science is undergoing an unprecedented period of reform. Wrongful convictions and errors of impunity have been attributed largely to forensic evidence, and concerns over the scientific foundations of many forensic disciplines have been raised in key official reports. In these turbulent times, it becomes particularly interesting to understand how forensic evidence is understood by the general public. Is it idealized? Are its inherent limitations recognized? The present study seeks to contribute to this growing body of work by addressing two main questions: (1) How does the general public perceive forensic science?; (2) How correct are individuals in their evaluations of specific types of forensic evidence? A survey of the Israeli public reveals considerable trust in the ability of forensics to reliably identify the perpetrator of a crime, although less trust is expressed when questions lead respondents to consider specific stages in the forensic process. Furthermore, respondents were often incorrect in their evaluations of the reliability of specific types of forensic evidence. The implications of these findings for police legitimacy, the practice of the criminal justice system, and the future study of attitudes toward forensic evidence, are discussed.
... Β: Η ένταξη των σεναρίων CSI στο πλαίσιο STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) δραστηριοτήτων ώστε να παραχθεί ένα συνεκτικό, σύγχρονο και καινοτόμο πλαίσιο αναφοράς (Marle et al, 2014). Γ: Η συστηματική συσχέτιση των (Α) και (Β) με τη γλώσσα μέσω της δυνατότητας της καλλιέργειας τόσο της δημιουργικής γραφής όσο και του ρητορικού επιχειρήματος (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007. Podlas, 2005 καθώς και η ανάπτυξη μεταγνωστικών ικανοτήτων. ...
... αίσιο STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) δραστηριοτήτων ώστε να παραχθεί ένα συνεκτικό, σύγχρονο και καινοτόμο πλαίσιο αναφοράς (Marle et al, 2014). Γ: Η συστηματική συσχέτιση των (Α) και (Β) με τη γλώσσα μέσω της δυνατότητας της καλλιέργειας τόσο της δημιουργικής γραφής όσο και του ρητορικού επιχειρήματος (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007. Podlas, 2005 καθώς και η ανάπτυξη μεταγνωστικών ικανοτήτων. ...
... Θα αναφερθούμε μόνο επιγραμματικά στις κυριότερες συνιστώσες του. Το CSI κατηγορείται για τις επιπτώσεις που μπορεί να έχει στην απονομή δικαιοσύνης των κοινωνιών (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). Συγκεκριμένα το «CSI effect» μπορεί να επιδράσει με τρείς τρόπους (Podlas, 2005): 4. Τα σενάρια CSI δημιουργούν στο σώμα των ενόρκων παράλογες απαιτήσεις για τον τρόπο απόδειξης της ενοχής των υπόπτων. ...
Η σταθερά του Planck αποτελεί μια από τις πιο θεμελιώδεις σταθερές της κβαντομηχανικής. Περιγράφει τη
συμπεριφορά των σωματιδίων σε υποατομικό επίπεδο, όπου ύλη και ενέργεια εναλλάσσονται. Τα φωτόνια ως
στοιχειώδη σωματίδια-φορείς της ηλεκτρομαγνητικής ακτινοβολίας χαρακτηρίζονται από ενέργεια που
υπολογίζεται με τη βοήθεια της σταθεράς του Planck. Πως όμως είναι δυνατόν να καταστήσουμε υπολογίσιμη
τη σταθερά αυτή στους μαθητές του Λυκείου; Οι μαθητές διδάσκονται στη Β΄ Λυκείου τα ηλεκτρικά
κυκλώματα συνεχούς ρεύματος, τη Φυσική του Φωτός και τα ατομικά φαινόμενα. Συνδυάζοντας τα τρία αυτά
αντικείμενα καταστρώσαμε ένα πείραμα υπολογισμού της σταθεράς του Planck. Η λειτουργία των διόδων
εκπομπής φωτός (LED) στηρίζεται στην ατομική θεωρία. Αναπτύξαμε κύκλωμα συνεχούς με διόδους εκπομπής
διαφορετικών χρωμάτων ,ποτενσιόμετρο, αμπερόμετρο και βολτόμετρο. Μεταβάλλαμε την τάση του
κυκλώματος και εντοπίσαμε την τάση ενεργοποίησης κάθε διόδου Από τις τιμές τάσεων ενεργοποίησης για κάθε
δίοδο διαφορετικού μήκους κύματος (χρώματος) μπορέσαμε να υπολογίσουμε τη σταθερά του Planck.
... Throughout the extant research, factors of television viewership and education as they relate to the existence of a CSI effect have demonstrated their importance for inclusion in the present study. Though, studies have shown no significant differences between the verdicts issued by crime show viewers versus nonviewers (Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Kim et al., 2009;Lieberman, Carrell, Miethe, & Krauss, 2008;Podlas, 2005;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Shelton, 2010;Shelton et al., 2006), research has discovered that expectations of forensic evidence (Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Brewer & Ley, 2010;Kim et al., 2009;Shelton et al., 2006;Smith, Patry, & Stinson, 2007), confidence in verdicts (Brewer & Ley, 2010;Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), and the critical assessment of evidence (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) varied between those who watched crime shows and those who did not. All of these effects may influence perceptions of the CSI effect's existence (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, & Rader, 2017;Vicary & Zaikman, 2017) and frequency of television consumption (Baranowski et al., 2018;Baskin & Sommers, 2010). ...
... Throughout the extant research, factors of television viewership and education as they relate to the existence of a CSI effect have demonstrated their importance for inclusion in the present study. Though, studies have shown no significant differences between the verdicts issued by crime show viewers versus nonviewers (Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Kim et al., 2009;Lieberman, Carrell, Miethe, & Krauss, 2008;Podlas, 2005;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Shelton, 2010;Shelton et al., 2006), research has discovered that expectations of forensic evidence (Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Brewer & Ley, 2010;Kim et al., 2009;Shelton et al., 2006;Smith, Patry, & Stinson, 2007), confidence in verdicts (Brewer & Ley, 2010;Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), and the critical assessment of evidence (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) varied between those who watched crime shows and those who did not. All of these effects may influence perceptions of the CSI effect's existence (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, & Rader, 2017;Vicary & Zaikman, 2017) and frequency of television consumption (Baranowski et al., 2018;Baskin & Sommers, 2010). ...
... Throughout the extant research, factors of television viewership and education as they relate to the existence of a CSI effect have demonstrated their importance for inclusion in the present study. Though, studies have shown no significant differences between the verdicts issued by crime show viewers versus nonviewers (Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Kim et al., 2009;Lieberman, Carrell, Miethe, & Krauss, 2008;Podlas, 2005;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Shelton, 2010;Shelton et al., 2006), research has discovered that expectations of forensic evidence (Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Brewer & Ley, 2010;Kim et al., 2009;Shelton et al., 2006;Smith, Patry, & Stinson, 2007), confidence in verdicts (Brewer & Ley, 2010;Hayes-Smith & Levett, 2011;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), and the critical assessment of evidence (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) varied between those who watched crime shows and those who did not. All of these effects may influence perceptions of the CSI effect's existence (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, & Rader, 2017;Vicary & Zaikman, 2017) and frequency of television consumption (Baranowski et al., 2018;Baskin & Sommers, 2010). ...
While studies have shown little to no support for the CSI effect, researchers have found that the perception of its existence among the public and criminal justice actors is the opposite. The current study uses a sample of undergraduates, who are currently enrolled in criminology courses, to examine perceptions of a CSI effect on courtroom verdicts, offender behavior, and the police chief’s effect. Additionally, this research explores whether these beliefs are mediated by education in criminology and crime show viewing habits. Results showed that education and crime show consumption influenced certain aspects of the CSI effect differently. The findings demonstrate the need for educators and researchers to continue to unravel the disconnect between empirical reality and perceptions that the CSI effect exists.
... Though in this review, due to lack of enough empirical data as to exactly which factors are responsible for the prejudice was not found as the theories which were used to predict the effects from television content were very ambiguous. The study [8], which was done by Schqwitzer and Saks, study how popular fiction about forensic science affects public expectations about real forensic science. They found out that the CSI does not alter verdicts on a very large scale about forensic science. ...
... Schweitzer and Saks [8] presented an empirical study designed to test the CSI effect-whether popular fiction about popular forensic science affects the public's expectations about real forensic science. They prepared a brief simulated transcript of a criminal trial. ...
... Fiction can affect our attitude towards animal cruelty, in the study done by Małecki et. al. [17] we saw that fiction could influence our attitude towards other species, our skepticism toward forensic science [8], and our preferences regarding practicing safe sex in the study conducted by Diekman et. al. [13] we saw that when the participants read more romance novels which did not incorporate elements of safer sex the participants showed a negative attitude towards condom and had reduced intent to use condoms. ...
Biases are one of the most important factors which can cloud the daily judgment of a person in their day-today functioning. Also, on the other hand, fiction has become a major part of our current society as many movies, series, novels, books, etc., are based on fiction, by which many people are getting inspired and influenced as well on a day-today basis. In this literature review, we try to understand how fiction affects a person and then society in general and how it influences their biases. In this, we have used many different types of research to understand how fiction's effect on bias. We have found out that fiction affects bias on an individual and societal basis, but the effect is not as strong. Rather, it becomes a small influence.
... The significance of this and the reason we study the CSI TV series is precisely because of its importance in popular culture. Since its first broadcast in the early 2000s it has led to the notion of the "CSI Effect" which has altered public understanding of forensic science [27,39] and thus has had a societal impact. CSI has also been the subject of much investigation in media studies because of its importance. ...
... The impact of crime-drama TV series such as CSI on modern popculture stretches far beyond academic research, even resulting in the coining of a new term: 'The CSI Effect' [27,39], mentioned earlier. Forensic autopsy portrayed in CSI acts as a softening lens in which exploration of the dead who are usually the victims of the crime which is the focus of the episode, is socially-palatable entertainment [33]. ...
We investigate the memorability of a 5-season span of a popular crime-drama TV series, CSI, through the application of a vision transformer fine-tuned on the task of predicting video memorability. By investigating the popular genre of crime-drama TV through the use of a detailed annotated corpus combined with video memorability scores, we show how to extrapolate meaning from the memorability scores generated on video shots. We perform a quantitative analysis to relate video shot memorability to a variety of aspects of the show. The insights we present in this paper illustrate the importance of video memorability in applications which use multimedia in areas like education, marketing, indexing, as well as in the case here namely TV and film production.
... While early research surveying legal actors suggest that these CSI effects are widely believed to exist among the legal community and often influences how legal actors (particularly prosecutors) behave in trial [11], such concerns have not been supported by subsequent research [9]. Despite early empirical research finding associations between CSI viewership and juror decision making [12][13][14], studies in this area contain serious methodological limitations, such as small sample sizes and fundamental misunderstandings of statistics that call into question the validity of the results [15]. Such an effect may be hard to find because there are many factors that affect jurors' attitudes, such as other types of evidence presented or the science communication itself, with familiarity with a TV show being just one potential -and possibly small -contributor. ...
... 12 Such measures allow for continuous improvement for practitioner performance, heading off future mistakes and improving its legitimacy and reliability in the eyes of the public (see [94,95]). 13 Other research summarized in Part III suggests that the HFSC's impression of its improving credibility is accurate. For instance, its reforms seem to align with each criterion of building long-term epistemic trust. ...
What drives public beliefs about the credibility of a scientific field? This question is increasingly important, with recent discussion of a “reproducibility crisis” affecting many fields. Such discussions are vital in forensic science, a discipline that has experienced severe scrutiny from both the media and large oversight bodies. In this paper, we make three contributions to this discussion. First, we bring together and compare several studies in which laypeople were asked about the reliability of forensic science practices. This review suggests that forensic practices do not enjoy uniformly high reliability ratings from the public and these ratings are not calibrated with the scientific consensus. We then review three empirically-tested ways that other fields are dealing with their own crises, all centred around transparency and openness. Finally, we make recommendations for how forensic science can leverage transparency and openness to improve and maintain its long-term credibility. As part of these recommendations, we find that empirical research supports the Houston Forensic Science Center’s recent claims that it has improved its credibility through openness and transparency.
... Similar results were found in two studies of college students. In a mock jury study of 48 students, Schweitzer and Saks (2007) found that viewers of forensic science television programs were more critical of forensic evidence in the simulated trial transcript and more confident in their verdicts than those who identified themselves as nonviewers of forensic-science-type shows. Although forensic science viewers had higher expectations of forensic evidence than nonviewers, this did not have an impact on the decision to either acquit or convict in the trial scenario (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). ...
... In a mock jury study of 48 students, Schweitzer and Saks (2007) found that viewers of forensic science television programs were more critical of forensic evidence in the simulated trial transcript and more confident in their verdicts than those who identified themselves as nonviewers of forensic-science-type shows. Although forensic science viewers had higher expectations of forensic evidence than nonviewers, this did not have an impact on the decision to either acquit or convict in the trial scenario (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). Holmgren and Fordham (2011) echoed the claim that viewers of forensic science shows expect more forensic evidence at trial and have higher beliefs about the capability of forensics; however, they did not discuss whether these expectations impacted jury decision-making. ...
With the popularization of television crime shows that focus heavily on forensic science, such as CSI and its spin-offs, concerns about a new threat to jury trials have emerged in recent years. Dubbed the "CSI effect," this phenomenon has reportedly come to influence the way jurors perceive forensic evidence at trials based on the way forensic evidence is presented on television. While the CSI effect has been the topic of much discussion throughout the popular press, the CSI effect has seldom been empirically tested. In this study, we present a selection of media accounts as well as criminological and legal literature that provides a review of the current state of the CSI effect. Additionally, we present the findings of a survey of 60 jurors from five malicious wounding cases on the influence of viewing CSI on jury decision-making. Using a logistic regression model, we found that belief in the accuracy of the scientific methods used on CSI was significantly related to juror verdicts.
... Siber dünyada yaygın kabul edilen CSI etkisinin yıkıcı sonuçları ise en fazla; Mahkeme süreçlerinde; savcı, hâkim ve mahkeme jürilerinin kanıta dayalı delillerden olan beklentilerini arttırmalar ile, Güvenlik güçleri üzerinde; polis ve jandarma gibi kolluk birimlerinin iş gücü ve mesai artışına yol açmaları ile, Suçlular üzerinde; eğitimli kriminal bireyler yaratmaları ile, Toplum üzerinde ise; Algı-merak ve psikoloji üzerinde olumsuz etkilerle medya okuryazarlığına olan ihtiyacı arttırmaları ile, Bunların dışında adli tıp ve adli bilimlere olan güvenin azalması yanında; alan tercihinde bulunan öğrenci ve akademisyenlerde hayal kırıklıklarına yol açabilme potansiyelleriyle yer almaktadır (1, 5,[7][8][9]11,12,16,17,19,21,24,25,28,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. ...
CSI EFFECT ON CYBER CRIMES
Summary:
In order to address the cyber crimes caused by the media and the cyber world, which not only provide healthy interpersonal communication but also have the potential for negative effects, through the 'CSI Effect', basic concepts need to be explained first.
CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) is literally considered as a crime scene investigation in the literature. Crime scene investigation is the systematic work carried out at the scene of a crime using scientific and the most up-to-date technological methods to eliminate uncertainty at the scene of a crime.
The three kingship authorities in the history of some states have been replaced by three powers: legislative, executive and judicial in countries governed by democracy. Today, the fourth power, "Mass media", and the fifth power, "cyber world = digital environment = internet", have been added to this trilogy.
Individuals who make up the society need to share their knowledge and experiences in order to meet their needs and cooperate, and they use mass media (MM) for this purpose. The modern societies of the 21st century can easily reach the fourth and fifth powers and can especially quickly adapt to the dizzying motion of the cyber world.
CSI-based information and fictional programs are rapidly spreading to the masses with the facilitating influence of the media and the cyber world. This effect; It makes a lot of information publicly available, including the criminal, victim, crime scene, identities of judicial officials, and the methods used by forensic medicine and forensic science experts.
In some studies, it is stated that the CSI effect causes the formation of new criminals, that perpetrators become professional enough to hide evidence with CSI and similar TV series, and that it causes different perceptions among the public and criminal justice actors.
In some police reports, it has been stated that criminal productions can train potential villains, that today's criminals use more advanced techniques than the crimes committed 20 years ago, and that it is inevitable for someone planning to commit a crime to be inspired by CSI-themed productions, as in past cases.
In the information age, MM platforms where the right to information is exercised should be offered to consumers using correct methods. If there is a violation on the part of the broadcast provider and the consumer, sanctions shaped by regulations in accordance with universal law should be applied, and the measures to be taken and the reasons for the sanctions should be presented and clearly shared with the public.
Keywords: CSI effect, mass media, media, cyber world, cyber crime, metaverse.
... There has long been discussion over whether viewing popular media portrayals of crime scene investigators may cause jurors to expect extensive forensic evidence to be presented at trial [43]. Often coined the "CSI Effect," there is limited and mixed empirical evidence that such a phenomenon exists in practice [44][45][46]. Similarly, it is possible that widespread news reports about government surveillance programs could create expectations that extensive evidence from surveillance would be available and could be presented at trial. ...
The rise of consumer encryption has led to a fierce debate over whether the loss of potential evidence due to encryption will be offset by the increase in evidence available from electronic metadata. One major question raised by this debate is how jurors will interpret and value metadata as opposed to content information. Though there are plausible arguments in favor of the persuasive power of each type of evidence, to date no empirical study has examined how ordinary people, potential jurors, view each of these sorts of evidence.
We address this issue through a series of survey experiments that present respondents with hypothetical criminal trials, randomly assigning them to descriptions featuring either metadata or content information. These studies show that the relative power of content and metadata information is highly contextual. Content information and metadata can be equally useful when conveying logically equivalent information. However, content information may be more persuasive where the defendant’s state of mind is critical, while metadata can more convincingly establish a pattern of behavior. This suggests that the rise of encryption will have a heterogeneous effect on criminal cases, with the direction of the effect depending on the facts that the prosecution must prove.
... Instead of throwing light on the power of the media with regard to crime issues, recent academic discourse in the field of criminology has been taking place along the question of forensic science practices and their public interpretation within many criminal justice systems -in other words, the "CSI effect" 4 (crime scene investigation, Schweitzer and Saks, 2007). Recent research data indicate that these effects tend to prefer the prosecution's arguments. ...
... Nonetheless, there is research evidence that supports certain aspects of the 'CSI effect'; for example, that jurors who view CSI know more science or are more receptive to it (Dioso-Villa, 2015a). However, the findings from studies vary in their conclusions as to whether watching CSI-type programs makes viewers more sceptical or more trusting of forensic science in the contexts of trials (Goodman-Delahunty, Rossner, & Tait, 2010; Goodman-Delahunty & Hewson, 2010a; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). A crucial variable seems to be general understanding of science; for example, those with low understanding tend to have higher trust in DNA evidence (Goodman-Delahunty & Hewson, 2010a). ...
Forensic science is a matter of public interest and fascination. Representations of forensic science have shaped public understandings, whether through print sources, such as news articles and novels, entertainment media, such as film and drama, or the broader mediascape that includes podcasts and a range of social media platforms. These technologies present new ways for members of the public not only to consume content, but also to create content. This chapter considers how forensic science is represented in fictional portrayals as well as in ‘true’ accounts. It identifies several impacts of mediated representations on public understandings of forensic science. These impacts include the crossovers from reality to fiction, and also from fiction to reality; possible effects on real criminal justice processes associated with the viewing of fictional portrayals of forensic science; and material consequences for victims and offenders due to unchecked discussion of cases on social media. The ways in which forensic science is represented are likely to influence public views on how forensic science should be used in real life, because they reflect a key source of information about forensic science. From the point of view of critical forensic studies, public conversations about forensic science developments and their potential implications, as well as media and forensic literacy, are vital to enhancing public understandings of forensic science.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429505782/critical-forensic-studies-roberta-julian-loene-howes-rob-white
... Nonetheless, there is research evidence that supports certain aspects of the 'CSI effect'; for example, that jurors who view CSI know more science or are more receptive to it (Dioso-Villa, 2015a). However, the findings from studies vary in their conclusions as to whether watching CSI-type programs makes viewers more sceptical or more trusting of forensic science in the contexts of trials (Goodman-Delahunty, Rossner, & Tait, 2010; Goodman-Delahunty & Hewson, 2010a; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). A crucial variable seems to be general understanding of science; for example, those with low understanding tend to have higher trust in DNA evidence (Goodman-Delahunty & Hewson, 2010a). ...
Important questions have been asked about the legitimacy of forensic science. These questions are central to public confidence in the field and discussions of its professional status. Professions involve boundary work and decisions about which knowledge and skills are included and which are not. They can often be distinguished from other occupations by meeting criteria in accordance with various professional benchmarks. This chapter considers the professional status of forensic science and specific forensic disciplines. It then considers emerging trends and issues with respect to key aspects of professionalisation. These include issues surrounding governing bodies and the development of standards and accreditation processes. Other key aspects include debates on the most suitable education and training for forensic scientists, and the role of experience and personal attributes. These discussions feed into considerations of proficiency and expertise testing. The chapter includes case studies on crime scene examination, which exemplify the kinds of institutional dynamics that impact forensic practice. From a critical forensic studies perspective, it is not only the presence of suitable expertise benchmarks for each profession, but also the ongoing critical scrutiny of their operation in practice that are essential for the continued legitimacy and quality of the system.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429505782/critical-forensic-studies-roberta-julian-loene-howes-rob-white
... The media have also generally shown the success of these techniques through real or fictional cases, and as part of this "turn", have generated an unexpected resurgence of scientific positivism that has become known among professionals in the sector as the "CSI effect" (Schweitzer and Saks, 2007). Based on the heroic image of the forensic scientist in television fiction, this effect has generated great expectations of the possibilities of forensic techniques to locate, recover and identify corpses in violent contexts. ...
In the year 2000 thirteen people were exhumed from a mass grave in Priaranza del Bierzo. This event has been established as the founding act of the movement called “Historical Memory” in the Kingdom of Spain. A movement which, despite claiming the recovery of the past within the framework of Human Rights rhetoric, has been marked by the exhumations of mass graves as its primary and most visible activity. These exhumations have always been portrayed positively by the media. This is framed within the so-called “forensic turn,” as a process in which scientists have been incorporated into the investigation of mass violence.However, this account has not addressed a number of issues, one of which is fundamental and relates to the fate of the bodies after exhumation. Another omission is the question of what to do when the graves are not found where they were believed to be. In this sense, the subject has been approached from an interdisciplinary perspective, starting from the history of art, making use of ethnographic techniques and taking samples from a qualitative-quantitative study which has been carried out over the last 4 years throughout the country. Therefore, the materials used to address the problem are organized into the following three parts. Firstly, the limitations of the forensic model and exhumations are discussed in detail. Secondly, monuments built after the exhumation of mass graves are examined. Thirdly, monuments constructed when the grave remained undiscovered, and the bodies could not be exhumed are also considered.In this regard, the experiences analysed have firstly clarified the limitations and dissatisfactions that have arisen around the “forensic turn.” The low rate of identifications, the lack of symbolic mediators and the lack of social recognition, lead to the fact that exhumations in themselves do not offer answers and that, on the contrary, they do not necessarily modify the meaning of the graves as tools of terror. Therefore, in the second section, some initiatives have been employed to illustrate the need to bury the bodies after exhumations, both for pragmatic and symbolic reasons. These monuments could also be the solution for those unable to locate the mass graves, as explained in the third section. The conclusion focuses on the origins of these “memorial monument solutions,” which have transcended the “forensic” model. Therefore, it is suggested that it would be relevant to continue researching these practices in the future, and not to see them as mere solutions to a technical problem, but as a new stage of memorial practices.
... The phenomenon, defined as "the belief that watching television shows such as CSI can actually cause a viewer to have heightened expectations of what science can do" (Harvey & Derksen, 2009, p. 5), has been addressed by both the academic literature and the media. Although several works indicate the non-existence of such a phenomenon (Maeder & Corbett, 2015;Podlas, 2006;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), Brewer and Ley (2010) found that regular viewers of CSI tended to believe more in the reliability of forensic science than individuals who did not consume this television drama. As a result, we believe that the focus of the debate over the CSI effect has shifted the attention away from the simple fact that series like CSI depict a technical reality of the police institution that most people do not have access to. ...
Since the 1950s, the institutional police series have been among the most popular productions on US television. Through the reiteration of the "us versus them" mentality, police officers are fictionalized as normative agents who uphold "goodness", while crime is portrayed as a moral and individual flaw of the criminal. Not only do these productions recurrently ignore systemic problems in US society, which are used to explain crime in the real world, but they also reinforce the authority of the institution as the force capable of maintaining the status quo. From the perspective that these series act in the construction and mediation of meaning about the role played by real-world police institutions and their members in society, we structure the text around two main arguments: (a) TV series reinforce the police institution's authority, treating its actions as unquestionable and, most importantly, allowing real-world institutions to interfere in their fictionalization processes; (b) TV series normalize police brutality, with narratives often justifying violent acts as an efficient investigative tool, illustrating norms and bureaucracies as major impediments to the police officer's work. By framing ethical and human rights violations as efficient and necessary acts, these series contribute to normalizing some of the dirtiest aspects of the profession.
... O fenômeno, definido como sendo "a crença de que assistir a programas de televisão como o CSI pode, na verdade, fazer com que o espectador eleve as expectativas do que a ciência pode fazer" (Harvey & Derksen, 2009, p. 5), já foi abordado tanto pela literatura acadêmica quanto pela mídia. Apesar de diversos trabalhos indicarem a inexistência de tal fenômeno (Maeder & Corbett, 2015;Podlas, 2006;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), Brewer e Ley (2010) verificaram que espectadores regulares de CSI tinham uma tendência a acreditar mais na confiabilidade da ciência forense do que indivíduos que não consumiam este drama televisivo. Assim, acreditamos que o foco da discussão em torno do efeito CSI tem deslocado a atenção do simples fato de que séries como CSI dramatizam uma realidade técnica da instituição policial que não é acessível à maior parte dos sujeitos. ...
Desde a década de 1950, as séries institucionais policiais estão entre as produções mais populares da televisão estadunidense. Por meio da reiteração da mentalidade do “nós versus eles”, policiais são ficcionalizados como agentes normativos que defendem o “bem”, enquanto o crime é retratado como uma falha moral e individual do criminoso. Além dessas produções recorrentemente ignorarem problemas sistêmicos da sociedade estadunidense que são utilizados para explicar a criminalidade no mundo real, elas também reforçam a autoridade da instituição como detentora da força para manutenção do status quo. Partindo da perspectiva que essas séries atuam na construção e mediação de sentido sobre o papel desempenhado pelas instituições policiais do mundo real e de seus membros na sociedade, estruturamos o texto em torno de dois principais argumentos: (a) as séries reforçam a autoridade da instituição policial, tratando suas ações como inquestionáveis e, mais importante, abrindo espaço para intervenções das instituições policiais do mundo real nos processos de ficcionalização das mesmas; (b) as séries normalizam a brutalidade policial, com narrativas frequentemente justificando atos violentos como uma ferramenta investigativa eficiente, ilustrando normas e burocracias como grandes empecilhos ao trabalho do policial. Ao enquadrar as violações éticas e de direitos humanos como atos eficientes e necessários essas séries contribuem para normalizar alguns dos aspectos mais sujos da profissão.
... Additionally information is not only significantly valuable, but also the opinion of other experts [82]. Investigations are a team effort requiring the informed input of laboratory personnel and other experts when making investigative decisions [83,84]. Even Traiuman (2019) [84] mentions that there are an increasing demand from the community on the accuracy and detail of findings in forensic investigations. ...
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, geophysical, meteorological and hydrological disasters are increasing every year. With significantly limited resources, these countries are naturally forced to absorb lessons from these disasters. One of the fundamental activities during this learning task remains the need to standardize the forensic reporting process. Like all academic disciplines, engineering is exceptional in its application to the forensic field. This feature makes it a unique input to the investigation of hydrological and environmental catastrophes. Based on the fundamental concepts of forensic investigation, ten principles for properly conducting forensic hydrology studies are proposed. The ten principles proposed are: (i) Principle of use, (ii) production, (iii) principle of exchange, (iv) recognition, (v) correspondence, (vi) reconstruction, (vii) principle of probability, (viii) uncertainty, (ix) principle of certainty, and (x) conclusion principle. A hypothetical case of urban infrastructure failure is used to explain, in detail, each of the proposed principles. This paper proposes a methodology to be considered as a reference point for a forensic hydrological analysis to be used at the LAC region.
... According to the original hypothesis, "watching television shows, such as CSI, has influenced the general public's attitudes, expectations, and decision making related to the use of scientific evidence in jury trials" (Baskin & Sommers, 2010, p. 97). Although empirical studies assessing whether or not the CSI effect really exists have come to opposing conclusions (see Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Holmgren & Fordham, 2011;Kim et al., 2009;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Smith et al., 2007;Stinson et al., 2007;Tyler, 2006), one specific type of CSI effect suggested by Cole and Dioso-Villa (2007) the police chief's effectstates that crime dramas such as CSI are in fact educational for criminals, providing them with new strategies to learn how to avoid police detection as well as an increased sophistication in the commission of their crime. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, we should observe an increase in the use of forensic awareness strategies as well as changes in the modus operandi with the appearance of all these crime dramas. ...
Criminological theories and widespread assumptions about crime suggest that the modus operandi involved in sexual crimes should have changed over time given various contextual changes, such as better criminological knowledge (e.g., forensic awareness) as well as improved investigative techniques (e.g., forensic evidence analysis). The aim of this study was to test whether the modus operandi patterns of individuals having committed a sexual assault against female strangers have changed over time during the period of 2003-2017. More specifically, the study has identified changes in the trends of monthly counts and (relative) participations for sexual assaults during the study period in France. The measure of participations-a concept borrowed from the field of criminal career-was used to overcome the inherent limitations associated with this type of data. Results show that despite some significant changes in the modus operandi involved in sexual crimes, overall the modus operandi patterns appear to be fairly stable over time. The findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.
... The effect that this type of media product has on the population in general and on those who have a murdered relative, however, is that of trusting in a scientific methodology that, like the TV shows, can bring back the body of their loved one. Therefore, people have high expectations of the forensic procedures as a consequence of the success of such methods in TV series in solving crimes: the "CSI effect" (Schweitzer and Saks 2007). In the absence of any other kind of recognition, all hope is pinned on a process that could offer reliable, and accurate data, brought to light after decades of disorientation and invisibility (Baeta et al. 2015). ...
Between 100,000 and 130,000 people were murdered during the war and
dictatorship in Spain from 1936 onward. Thousands of bodies were buried in
mass graves which were then monumentalized decades later. Since the year
2000, the commemorative practices surrounding the victims of the war and
dictatorship changed radically: hundreds of exhumations took place and the
rhetoric on human rights and dignity was generalized in the discourses. This
phenomenon is associated with the idea of the “forensic turn”. However, the
situation presents a double crisis: that of the popular forms of memorial based
on honour and the monument, threatened by the scientific paradigm, and the
lack of social recognition of the victims, of which the exhumations are not part
of a judicial process, and how the ratios of identifications are low in the current
model. Therefore, by means of an interdisciplinary approach to the context, this
article contributes to the debate on the current crisis of the memory policies in
the Kingdom of Spain demonstrating the limits of the “forensic turn” and the
exhumation-based model promoted by the government of Spain.
... Ley, Jankowksi, and Brewer (2012) argue that the quick turnaround of DNA evidence on CSI leads to unrealistic expectations about the speed of DNA testing and the nonexistence of a DNA backlog. Schweitzer and Saks (2007) acknowledge "that public expectations of science are born of fictional portrayals of science, rather than of science reality, has long been thought to be true of forensic science, where public beliefs have long been shaped by fiction at least since Doyle penned Sherlock Holmes" (p. 359). ...
This study examines changes over time in 40 different Sherlock Holmes films and 39 television series and movies spanning from 1900 to 2017. Quantitative observations were mixed with a qualitative examination. Perceptions of law enforcement became more positive over time, the types of crime did not vary, and representation of race and gender improved over time with incrementally positive changes in the representation of queer, mentally ill, and physically handicapped individuals. The exact nature of these trends is discussed. Additionally, the trends of different decades are explored and compared. Sherlock Holmes is mostly used as a vehicle for storytelling rather than for the salacious crimes that he solves, making the identification of perceptions of crime in different decades difficult. The reasons for why different Sherlock Holmes projects were created in different eras and for different purposes are discussed.
... Additionally information is not only significantly valuable, but also the opinion of other experts [82]. Investigations are a team effort requiring the informed input of laboratory personnel and other experts when making investigative decisions [83,84]. Even Traiuman (2019) [84] mentions that there are an increasing demand from the community on the accuracy and detail of findings in forensic investigations. ...
... In addition to existing opinions about matters central to criminal cases, people have expectations about how a trial will unfold and what information will be available to jurors. The average person assumes, for example, that reliable forensic and eyewitness evidence will be available to reveal the truth when, in reality, this type of evidence is rarely available or conclusive (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Shelton, 2008). Ordinary people are not privy to the research relevant to cognitive bias and lack the experience necessary to weigh case information appropriately (Eastwood & Caldwell, 2015). ...
Preexisting beliefs frame people’s perception and interpretation of new, relevant information. For instance, jurors’ attitudes about mental illness will affect how they evaluate testimony from forensic psychologists and, ultimately, their judgment about the case. Furthermore, because each legal party secures experts that will favor their side, jurors often hear contradictory expert opinions. The current work focused on how participants’ initial opinions about mentally ill individuals might interact with the order in which opposing expert testimony is presented. Participants evaluated facts from insanity defense trials and two examples of expert evidence, updating their decisions and ratings after receiving each new piece of information. Inspired by belief perseverance and cognitive bias research, we examined participants’ judgments based on how their initial impression of a case compared to that of the first expert. Participants’ initial views, and whether the first expert presented a congruent view, mattered—incongruent experts inspired many people to change their minds, especially among those willing to endorse the plea initially. Many reverted to their original opinion, though, after the subsequent congruent testimony. We discuss the role of belief perseverance and confirmation bias in these findings and future directions for investigating the influence of jurors’ preexisting beliefs.
... A DNS tárgyi és ontológiai jellege nagymértékben hozzájárul a forenzikus genetikához társuló kollektív igazságérzethez. E kihívások kezelésére a büntetőeljárás alanyainak minőségi oktatását ajánlja a szakirodalom, habár nem részletezi pontosan miként lehetne ezt kivitelezni, azaz miként rendezhetők azok a kapacitási és stratégiai kérdések, amelyek nem tudnak megbirkózni a mélyen gyökerező elfogultsággal (Schweitzer & Saks 2007;Cole & Dioso-Villa, 2009;Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Holmgren & Fordham, 2011;Cole, 2015). ...
A tanulmány részletesen tárgyalja azokat az etikai és társadalmi kérdéseket, amelyek a forenzikus DNS-fenotipizálás (FDP) jogi szabályozása és gyakorlati alkalmazása kapcsán merültek fel Európa-szerte. Az igazságügyi genetika eme új és kialakulóban lévő technikája kapcsán megoszlik a nemzetközi szakirodalom véleménye. Az FDP támogatói az ismeretlen elkövető (vagy holttest) külső tulajdonságainak tudományos előrejelzésében látják e forenzikus technológia valódi hasznát, amelynek alkalmazhatóságát, annak jelenlegi fejlettségi szintjén, erős jogszabályi garanciákkal látnák el és a nagyobb tárgyi súlyú bűncselekmények felderítésére korlátoznák. Ellenzői viszont az FDP-t mellőzendőnek tartják a büntetőeljárás köréből, mondván, hogy az számos olyan emberi jogi problémát vet fel a magánélettel és a hátrányos megkülönböztetés tilalmával összefüggésben, amelyek akár faji alapú profilalkotáshoz is vezethetnek. Erre tekintettel jelen tanulmányban számos olyan ajánlás kerül feldolgozásra, amelyek figyelembevételével a jogalkotó minimalizálhatja az alapvető emberi értékek sérelmét az FDP belső jogba való átültetése során.
... A literatura existente sobre o suposto efeito CSI tem discutido principalmente a forma como as séries de televisão moldam as percepções do público sobre a tecnologia de DNA, os procedimentos rotineiros de análise da cena do crime e as etapas utilizadas para identificar suspeitos criminais, uma vez que o público geralmente está distante do "mundo real" da investigação criminal e do trabalho judicial. O foco principal desses estudos tem sido a influência de séries como CSI nos respectivos espectadores Schweitzer & Saks, 2007), nos jurados -cidadãos comuns convocados pelos tribunais para avaliar casos criminais que podem ser complexos e podem envolver provas de DNA -e também nos juízes e investigadores da polícia (Cole & Dioso-Villa, 2007;Durnal, 2010;Huey, 2010;Shelton, Kim & Barak, 2006). ...
Este livro mobiliza uma perspectiva sociológica crítica para explorar modos contemporâneos da governança da criminalidade por via da genética forense. Helena Machado e Rafaela Granja abordam
um conjunto de temas útil à compreensão do lugar e do papel da genética nos sistemas de justiça criminal, bem como os desafios sociais, éticos e políticos subjacentes. Em particular,
as autoras exploram os usos da genética para identificar suspeitos criminais ou para prever
o comportamento humano e os riscos para a privacidade e direitos humanos associados, a expansão da vigilância transnacional e o uso do big data. O livro integra também a análise de tecnologias controversas que têm o potencial de consolidar a criminalização e estigmatização de determinados grupos sociais, indivíduos e famílias, bem como fazer recrudescer manifestações racistas baseadas na biologia.
Redigido numa linguagem acessível, este livro destina-se a estudantes, pesquisadores e profissionais de diversas áreas – da Sociologia, Criminologia e outras ciências sociais ao Direito e à Genética Forense.
... The "CSI-effect" is the belief held by popular media that lay jurors' understanding of forensic science and investigation can be influenced by crime drama television shows due to their perceived realism of the narrative licence taken by screenwriters (Heinrick, 2006). These misconceptions surrounding the process of investigation and the potentiality of the forensic science have become particularly problematic in court: one study comparing CSI viewers and non-CSI viewers found the viewers to be more critical of forensic evidence presented and 11% less likely to convict than their non-viewer counterparts (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). Another consequence of the "CSI-effect" is the glamorisation of forensic science, the forensic scientists and the general role of law enforcement in the society. ...
Forensic science is the application of science in a criminal investigation or court of law. Crimes and forensic investigation have always been associated with human society. As an interdisciplinary field, forensic science incorporates areas of both life sciences and social sciences. Until the beginning of the 1900s, forensic science was self-taught and carried out exclusively through law enforcement agencies. In recent years, with the success of crime drama television series, an increased global interest in forensic science-based university courses has been observed. The prevalence of global issues such as international crimes and mass disasters has catalysed the need for international collaboration and to remove global barriers within forensic science. To prepare students for the world of work, it is pivotal that forensic science curricula address the needs of the present-day society and the requirements of the forensic providers (laboratories and law enforcement agencies). The present manuscript describes the first forensic science international curriculum between Australia (Murdoch University) and Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia/UKM Forensics), possible through the New Colombo Plan of the Australian Government. The course outlined here, comprehensively comprised of lectures, workshops and mixed group crime scene simulations, provided Australian and Malaysian students with an authentic, intercultural and cross-jurisdictional learning experience to acquire work-ready skills.
... Research on mental illness and public perception indicates that the negative portrayals of the mentally ill used by the media contribute to negative attitudes about mental illness (Sieff, 2003). Furthermore, these negative portrayals of the mentally ill may adversely influence/bias a juror's perceptions of the defendant (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007). In a meta-analysis regarding the public's attitudes, Angermeyer and Dietrich (2006) found that individuals with schizophrenia and alcoholism were seen more frequently as unpredictable and violent when compared with people suffering from depression or anxiety disorders. ...
Mentally ill and emotionally disturbed offenders comprise a significant component of those whose criminal conduct has swept them into the criminal justice system, including a subset who are tried and convicted of capital murder. The present study employs the population of capital cases advanced to penalty phase in the state of North Carolina (1990–2009) to examine whether presentation to the jury of the statutory mitigators of extreme mental and emotional disturbance and capacity impaired, and specific mental illness diagnoses, often referred to as mental disorders, at the sentencing phase mitigate against a sentence of death. Mental disorders included mood disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, brain disorders, multiple mental illness diagnoses, learning disabilities, and personality disorders. Results from these 835 cases indicate that with the exception of one, the diagnosis of a learning disability, the capital jury's acceptance of various mental health conditions does not effectively mitigate against a capital sentence. In addition, jury rejection of a diagnosis of mental illness or the two mental health statutory mitigators, capacity impaired and extreme emotional disturbance, as a mitigating factor has a counter‐mitigating effect in that it significantly increases the odds of a death penalty recommendation by about 85–200%.
... However, studies on the CSI effect have produced largely mixed results. Schweitzer and Saks's (2007) experimental study suggested that CSI viewers are more critical about forensic evidence than non-CSI viewers. However, Podlas's (2006) research leads to the conclusion that there is no negative effect of CSI on "not guilty" verdicts. ...
Hu and Lovrich introduce the "electronic community-oriented policing (E-COP)," concept to explore how social media can impact police strategies on improving and maintaining police-public relation. Using empirical evidence and theoretical foundations, this book demonstrates the importance of this timely refinement to traditional community-oriented policing strategies as we move further into the twentieth century. E-COP represents a systematic approach to policing that applies knowledge derived from theories of individual behavior, social behavior, and mass communication dynamics to contemporary policing practice. This book would be of interest to policing researchers, scholars, and students as well as police practitioners wishing to improve their use of social media resources to connect to the public they serve in the digital age. Book website (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793607843/Electronic-Community-Oriented-Policing-Theories-Contemporary-Efforts-and-Future-Directions).
... According to the CSI effect hypothesis, TV shows depicting forensic analyses have influenced the public's attitudes and expectations related to the use of scientific evidence in jury trials (Baskin & Sommers, 2010). Although it is still debated whether or not the CSI effect really exists (e.g., Baskin & Sommers, 2010;Beauregard & Martineau, 2018;Chopin & Beauregard, in press;Holmgren & Fordham, 2011;Kim, Barak, & Shelton, 2009;Schweitzer & Saks, 2007;Tyler, 2006), Cole and Dioso-Villa (2007) suggested that the CSI effect could be in fact educational for criminals, providing them with new strategies to learn how to avoid police detection as well as an increased sophistication in the commission of their crimes. It is true that despite most criminals not knowing what "DNA" stands for, most, if not all, are aware that it is found at the crime scene, and that it could be used to identify them and ultimately link them to the crime. ...
Purpose: Rational choice approach assumes that offenders make decisions to gain more than what it costs to commit the crime. However, studies have shown that not all offenders take actions at the crime scene in order to get rid of forensic evidence. This study focuses on the sexual murderers and aimed to determine which factors influence their decision to use or not
forensic awareness strategies to avoid police detection.
Methods: The current study seeks to determine the role of criminal expertise, situational factors and crime characteristics on the use of forensic awareness strategies by sexual murderers using a sample of 662 cases of sexual murders from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD) occurring in France and Canada.
Results: Findings from descriptive analysis showed that most SHOs are forensically aware. Results from sequential binomial regression analyses indicated that criminal expertise and crime characteristics were the most important factors to explain the decision taken by sexual murderers to use or not strategies to avoid police detection.
Conclusions: The use forensic awareness strategies by SHOs are not influenced by situational characteristics of the crime but instead relies on the offender’s experience, expertise, and the type of acts they committed. Theoretical implications and utility for police investigations are discussed.
... The so-called "CSI-effect" where juries are alleged to 'believe the expert without hesitation' or 'expect forensics to answer everything', grew out of the belief that entertainment crime shows represented real-world capabilities. 2 Almost all forensic scientists have been asked why they "didn't just find DNA" or "why is this test taking so long?". Besides that, they have also received the typical request of "can you explain it in an easier way?". ...
Zusammenfassung
Werkzeuge als Spurenträger gewinnen zunehmendes Interesse in der forensischen DNA-Analyse. Im Untersuchungsgut des Homburger Instituts ist eine deutliche Zunahme von Hebelspuren zu verzeichnen. Vor diesem Hintergrund verfolgt die vorliegende Studie das Ziel, ein rational begründetes Konzept für die Tatortarbeit zu entwickeln.
Im ersten Teilschritt wurde der DNA-Gehalt entsprechender Spuren systematisch experimentell ermittelt: Zwei Versuchspersonen setzten mit 6 verschiedenen Hebelwerkzeugen (4 Schraubendreher, 2 Nageleisen) an 3 Fenstern verschiedener Materialart (Holz, Aluminium, Kunststoff) in jeweils 24 definierten Arealen Hebelspuren. Fenster und Werkzeuge wurden mit Microbac forte (Hartmann) bzw. DNA Exitus (Applichem) gereinigt. Anschließend wurden an den Werkzeugen 3‑mal täglich, an 3 aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen unter leichtem Druck 10 aufeinanderfolgende Reibbewegungen durchgeführt. Die gefertigten Abriebe wurden standardisiert analysiert (DNA-Extraktion mit EZ1 DNA-Investigator Kit, Investigator Lyse/Spin-Basket Kit, Fa. Qiagen; Quantifizierung mittels Real-Time PCR, Investigator Quantiplex Pro Kit, Fa. Qiagen; Multiplex-PCR mit PowerPlex® ESX 17 Kit, Fa. Promega, und Kapillarelektrophorese mittels 3500 Genetic Analyzer von Applied Biosystems und Gene Mapper ID-X Software). Bei der Untersuchung von 72 Spuren wurde an einer mit einem Schraubendreher an einem Kunststofffenster gesetzten Hebelspur eine DNA in einer Konzentration von 22 pg/µl nachgewiesen und ein homogenes DNA-Profil generiert.
Anschließend wurde in einer retrospektiven Analyse empirisch verifiziert, inwiefern die experimentellen Daten eine Entsprechung in der tatsächlichen ermittlungsseitigen Fallarbeit/Spurensicherung gefunden haben. Hierzu wurden die in einem Dreijahreszeitraum vor der experimentellen Studie untersuchten 90 Hebelspuren bezüglich des Anteils der nachgewiesenen DNA-Profile ausgewertet. Dabei fanden sich 9 auswertbare Mischspuren sowie ein vollständig homogenes Profilmuster, das anhand des Ermittlungsansatzes einem Tatverdächtigen zugeordnet werden konnte. Diese Daten sollten im konkreten Ermittlungsfall bei einer kriminalistischen Abwägung zwischen Aufwand und Nutzen einer Spurenuntersuchung an der eigentlichen Hebelmarke Berücksichtigung finden.
O texto de Brecht sobre a vida de Galileu, uma peça de teatro com o título traduzido para português “Vida de Galileu”, serve de mote para a análise que o texto se propõe realizar sobre as intersecções que se estabelecem entre o Direito e a(s) Ciência(s). Ante a importância crescente que a prova dita científica vem granjeando nos processos judiciais, a autora propõe-se indagar qual a visão da ciência que prevalece nos meios judiciais e como esta contribui, em que medida e com que desafios, para o esforço de conhecimento dos factos sujeitos a juízo. O percurso realizado visita, de modo comparativo, as experiências do direito norte-americano e do direito europeu de matriz civilista, em particular o português. Tal como resulta do texto de Brecht sobre o julgamento de Galileu, também o recurso à ciência e a participação dos homens da ciência nos processos judiciais, na nossa actualidade, não se faz sem concessões, compromissos e sacrifícios.
In their investigations of criminal cases, law enforcement agencies rely heavily on forensic evidence. Numerous studies have examined the scientific and technological advancements of DNA testing, but little evidence exists on how the availability of DNA evidence influences prosecutors' decisions to move cases forward in the criminal justice system. We created a new database by juxtaposing data from the Forensics Division of the Israel Police, which recorded the presence (or not) of DNA profiles in criminal cases (n = 9862), and data on the indictment decision for each case (2008-2019). Rates of indictments are computed for each case, and trend lines are used to present variations in the rates of indictment decisions with and without DNA profiles. Approximately 15% of all criminal cases without DNA presented to the prosecutor's office are subsequently prosecuted, compared with nearly 55% of cases with DNA profiles. The presence of DNA evidence influences the prosecutor's decision to move a case forward in the criminal justice system. Utilizing a scientific approach to prosecute offenders is a welcome development; however, DNA evidence is not infallible, and caution must be exercised in regard to DNA's overuse in the legal system.
Este trabajo revisa de manera crítica el ámbito de la lingüística aplicada conocido como fonética forense. Desde el propio nombre de esta disciplina, existen algunas controversias terminológicas, no solo acerca de cómo referirse a esta rama del saber, sino también sobre cuáles son –y cómo denominar– sus principales campos de actuación. Gracias a una pormenorizada revisión bibliográfica, describimos las cinco grandes áreas de aplicación de la fonética forense, haciendo énfasis en desmitificar posibles ideas erróneas sobre el alcance de esta disciplina. Asimismo, se ha hecho un esfuerzo por presentar los resultados de las investigaciones más recientes, sobre todo en el ámbito de la comparación forense de hablantes, que es la tarea más conocida y encargada con más frecuencia al perito forense. Para esta subárea nos centraremos en explicar las aproximaciones metodológicas actuales, así como los parámetros fonéticos más utilizados.
The present study assesses whether watching crime shows affects attitudes toward forensic evidence and whether these attitudes result in a predisposition toward conviction or acquittal in a criminal trial. Data came from a telephone survey of a random sample of 1,201 California registered voters. The results indicate that, independent of criminal justice experiences, sociodemographics, and other background characteristics, crime-show-viewing habits affect potential jurors' pretrial attitudes and predispositions regarding scientific evidence and various forms of testimony. However, pretrial attitudes do not affect respondents' beliefs about their willingness to convict/acquit based on the presence/absence of forensic evidence. Instead, crime show viewing has a direct effect on this belief.
La historia de la represión derivada del golpe militar del 1936, la guerra subsecuente y la represión sistemática de la dictadura ha estado vinculada a la imagen de las fosas comunes. Estas fosas ganaron visibilidad desde el año 2000 con el inicio de un nuevo ciclo de exhumaciones y la popularización de la noción de “Memoria Histórica”. Sin embargo, no todas las fosas estaban desparecidas ni abandonadas. Desde la inmediata posguerra familiares, vecinos y militantes desafiaron a la dictadura marcando los lugares de enterramiento, llevando flores o construyendo los primeros monumentos. Una actividad que tuvo su mayor desarrollo durante el período de la Transición, y que de nuevo volvió a tener lugar con el cambio de siglo, pese a no haber gozado de la misma visibilidad que las exhumaciones. Este libro pone su foco en esos desafíos al olvido, desde el año 1936 hasta la actualidad, analizando cómo se ubican en la sociedad contemporánea, y comprendiéndolos no como simples “entierros dignos”, sino reconociendo en ellos genuinas expresiones populares de conciencia histórica. Una particular escritura de la historia en el territorio, que comenzó con un gesto sencillo, pero trascendente: el de llevar flores.
Despite contemporary media portrayals, violent crime has continued to decrease in recent decades. Consistent with traditional types of violent crime (e.g., homicide), serial homicide has also continued to decrease. Although the methods of investigation for traditional violent crime have been examined thoroughly, research specific to serial homicide is scarce. In a study of 671 serial homicide perpetrators, we examined the timeline of each investigation and identified the methods used by law enforcement to identify, and sometimes apprehend, serial killers. Overall, there were 22 distinct methods of investigation. The most common methods were victim survived, DNA, turned in by an associate, family, or friend, fingerprints, prior offending history, body found in home, and being arrested for an unrelated charge. This study also describes how methods of investigation vary over time and trends across decades. Implications of the findings are discussed.
This book offers a transnational perspective of evidentiary problems, drawing on insights from different systems and legal traditions. It avoids the isolated manner of analyzing evidence and proof within each Common Law and Civil Law tradition. Instead, it features contributions from leading authors in the evidentiary field from a variety of jurisdictions and offers an overview of essential topics that are of both theoretical and practical interest. The collection examines evidence not only as a transnational field, but in a cross-disciplinary context. Each chapter engages with the interdisciplinary themes cutting through the issues discussed, benefiting from the expertise and experience of their diverse authors.
Juries in adversarial courts are tasked with several responsibilities. They are asked to: 1) assess the credibility and reliability of the evidence presented; 2) deliberate; 3) and then reach a decision. Jurors are expected to evaluate said evidence in a rational/impartial manner, thus allowing the defendant their right to a fair trial. However, psychological research has shown that jurors are not rational and can reach inaccurate decisions by being biased by certain factors. The aim of the current review was to explore the potential sources from which biases are introduced into the jury. Three main sources of bias were focussed upon: 1) pre-trial bias; 2) cognitive bias; 3) bias from external legal actors (expert witnesses). Legal scholars commonly cite deliberations as a method of attenuating individual juror bias, this claim is evaluated in the review. The review concludes that bias is a multifaceted phenomenon introduced from many different elements, and that several sources of bias may interact with one another during a jury trial to cause the effects of bias to snowball. Four recommendations are made: 1) juror selection should be utilised to create heterogenous juries that challenge problematic biases from individual jurors; 2) increase the quality of expert testimony through training; 3) procedures such as Linear Sequential Unmasking should be adopted by expert witnesses to filter out some sources of bias; 4) legal professionals and jurors should be educated about the effects that biases may have on decision making; 5) more research into bias in jurors is needed.
Desde el año 2000 se ha producido un nuevo proceso de exhumaciones de las fosas comunes de las personas asesinadas durante la Guerra y la Dictadura desde 1936. Sin embargo, hay una escasa visibilidad y reflexión en torno a la acción subsiguiente a las exhumaciones, que implica la reinhumación de los cuerpos. Este proceso tiene especial importancia dado que la mayor parte de los mismos no son identificados. En el presente artículo se aborda la acción de construir un monumento para alojar los cuerpos tras la exhumación. Se presentan resultados parciales de una investigación más amplia que combina técnicas histórico artísticas con etnográficas. Como conclusión se propone comprender estas acciones desde un punto de vista pragmático que a la vez puede ser interpretado como una voluntad de escritura de la historia por medio de la sepultura.
Jury research shows that verdicts in criminal trials vary according to the strength of the evidence presented by the prosecution and the defence. But because ‘hard evidence’ is usually lacking in sexual assault trials, it can be expected that jurors will rely on extra-legal factors (myths, biases and misconceptions) in deciding a case with ambiguous evidence such as a word-against-word case.
The communication of forensic science within the criminal justice process has been highlighted as an issue in a series of high profile reports dating back more than a decade. A forensic scientist has to be able to effectively communicate complex scientific ideas across multidisciplinary borders including the police, lawyers, and jurors, while concurrently being restrained by processes and procedures which exist within the criminal justice process. Communication research has begun to be undertaken to try and clarify and identify what causes some of the problems in communicating forensic science, to suggest how these might be addressed and to assess the efficacy of new approaches.
This article is categorized under:
• Jurisprudence and Regulatory Oversight > Communication Across Science and Law
• Jurisprudence and Regulatory Oversight > Interdisciplinary Collaboration
• Jurisprudence and Regulatory Oversight > Expert Evidence and Narrative
Abstract
Efficient and accurate communication of forensic science is vital to avoiding miscarriages of justice, this article examines the issues that forensic scientists have to contend with to ensure that they communicate their science accurately.
It has been argued that the rise in popularity of crime show dramas over the past few years has led to jurors holding unrealistic expectations regarding the type of evidence presented at trial. This has been coined the CSI effect. We investigated the CSI effect and the less well-known Tech effect-assigning more weight to evidence if obtained through technological means-and the impact of crime severity on juror decision-making. However, we argue that as time progresses, such effects will no longer be found to impact juror decision-making processes. We propose that past effects reported in the literature can be explained by considering a novelty bias. Using both frequentist and Bayesian frameworks, we tested this claim. Participants were primed with a newspaper that either contained a forensic, technology, or neutral article. They were then presented with two crime scenarios and asked to provide a verdict and a confidence rating. We find that mock jurors were unaffected by either the priming manipulation or crime severity, finding no evidence for either the CSI or Tech effects. The data suggest jurors are not as easily biased as has been previously argued in the literature, indicating a potential shift in public perceptions and expectations regarding evidence.
This article utilises the theoretical perspectives of the forensic turn to further expand our historical understandings and interpretations of the events of the Holocaust. More specifically, it applies a theory of the materialities of dead bodies to historically reconstruct and reinterpret the death march from Buchenwald to Dachau from 7 to 28 April 1945. It focuses on dead bodies as ‘evidence’, but explores how the evidential meanings of corpses along the death-march route evolved and changed during the march itself and in the aftermath of discovery by approaching American military forces. While drawing on theories of the evidential use of dead bodies, it remains firmly grounded in empirical historical research based on archival sources. The archives at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp contain eyewitness accounts and post-war trial testimony that enable a deeply contextualised ‘microhistory’ of the geography, movements, perpetrators, victims and events along this specific death march in April and May 1945. This ‘thick description’ provides the necessary context for a theoretical reading of the changing evidential meanings of dead bodies as the death march wove its way from Buchenwald to Dachau and the war and the Holocaust drew to an end.
The "CSI effect" is a term that legal authorities and the mass media have coined to describe a supposed influence that watching the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has on juror behavior. Some have claimed that jurors who see the high-quality forensic evidence presented on CSI raise their standards in real trials, in which actual evidence is typically more flawed and uncertain. As a result, these CSI-affected jurors are alleged to acquit defendants more frequently. This Review argues that, while some existing evidence on juror decisionmaking is consistent with the CSI effect, it is equally plausible that watching CSI has the opposite impact on jurors and increases their tendency to convict. The perceived rise in acquittals can also plausibly be explained without any reference either to watching CSI or to viewing crime dramas more generally. For these reasons, and because no direct research supports the existence or delineates the nature of the CSI effect, calls for changes to the legal system are premature. More generally, the issues raised by current attention to the CSI effect illustrate the problems that arise when proposed changes in the legal system are supported by plausible, but empirically untested, "factual" assertions.
After the Supreme Court's decision in Kumho Tire v. Carmichael and the recent amendment of Federal Rule of Evidence 702, proffers of expert testimony will have to be found reliable for the particular application of the asserted expertise to the "task at hand." That is, expertise which is reliable in some global sense, which might apply to other cases but not to the particular application before the court, does not satisfy the requirements for admission. With that in mind, this article examines the phenomoenon of "observer effects" and the vulnerability of forensic science examinations to such observer effects. Observer effects occur when the results of an examination are distorted by the context and state of the observer, including the observer's expectations and desires. The article reviews the findings and practices of a range of scientific fields concerning such observer effects and their control, with special attention to the relevant research and theory from cognative and social psychology. This literature establishes that in virtually every area of human judgment, such observer effects have a relentless and sometimes dramatic effect on the accuracy of results. The article then examines current forensic science practice in light of that research, concluding that forensic science practice is far behind most scientific fields in controlling for such effects, leaving the reliability and accuracy of many forensic science results in doubt. The article then suggests practical ways in which forensic science practice can be changed to reduce such problems, such as the adoption of blind testing regimes. Finally, the article analyzes the current state of the law under Kumho Tire and Rule 702, concluding that the results of forensic science examinations are in danger of being excluded if their reliability continues to be undermined by the failure to control observer effects. Psychology