Turns out the forsenics on the show are all bunk. And it is causing major problems in criminal justice and our society.
From the article:
"In the age of CSI and Dexter, we’re led to believe that forensic science is a high-tech discipline, powerful and sophisticated enough to catch any criminal.
"As it turns out, whether blood-spatter analysis and disciplines like it qualify as “science” at all is a matter of increasing debate. In a sharply critical report issued in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences said, “The simple reality is that the interpretation of forensic evidence is not always based on scientific studies.” Taking aim at disciplines as varied as ballistics, hair and fiber analysis, bite-mark comparison—even fingerprints—the report declared, “This is a serious problem.”
My advice -- turn it off. It's polluting your brain with nonsense.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/17/forensics-under-the-microscope.html
This is a great article, and I believe that I am going to try to focus my research paper on this topic. The CSI effect is very real, and it causes Americans and especially jurors to have too high of expectations when it comes to forensic evidence involved in a case. People assume that you can test every soda can for DNA and find the suspect, but that is just unrealistic. It takes days, weeks, and months to get a DNA or fingerprint match and the suspect would have to previously be in the database to begin with. All in all, forensics is a great tool for proving guilting or proving innocence but it takes a lot more time and hard work than those TV shows make it seem. I am really interested in this topic, and I am excited to do more research on it for my term paper!
ReplyDeleteGood topic for sure, and lots has been written on it.
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