The "CSI Effect" and Other Forensic Fictions.

The media, prompted by prosecutors, claims that a "CSI Effect" is impacting our criminal justice system, i.e., seducing jurors with promises of forensic evidence and causing an epidemic of unjustified acquittals. Despite the popularity of these claims, they are not grounded in a statistical increase in acquittals or detailed case studies, but on anecdotes about cases that law enforcement believes it should have won. Anecdote, however, is not an adequate substitute for empirical evidence or a logical theory of media influence. This paper, employing the perspectives of media theory and narrative analysis, examines the entertainment media's contribution to the public's understanding of law. Moreover, it subjects the "CSI Effect" to empirical analysis through deliberation studies of 538 mock jurors (comprised of individuals on jury duty, jury eligible adults, and university students). This paper concludes that neither theory nor survey results support the existence of a "CSI Effect," but that, like its namesake television show, it is merely fiction. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]