How The CSI Effect Alters Our Perspectives on Real Life Courtroom Processes

Television shows have an impact in today’s world. When it comes down to injustices in the courtroom, there are plenty. Some people are put away simply based on opinion instead of factual evidence. Our opinions and thoughts about the courtroom must have come from somewhere other than the courtroom itself. In all honesty, most people haven’t stepped foot in a courtroom less it be for jury duty or due to having a court case. So, our opinions must have originated from another source as well. This source, I believe to be as, every criminal television show that represents a form of a court case.

If you tried to watch every episode of every crime show ever, I am not sure if you’d even live long enough to do so. That’s how many criminal shows there are in the world. There are plenty of ways that the CSI Effect alters our perspective on how a courtroom actually is in reality once compared to one in a tv show. According to Rasmussen College, some lawyers will remove jurors who have watched certain CSI shows. Due to the fact that they may use their experience watching the show in determining someone's future. Another thing that Rasmussen College has enlightened individuals to seeing is that, more jurors want hardcore evidence instead of light evidence. Hardcore evidence could represent; DNA, Photo evidence, and more.

Criminal Minds is a show that most people today have seen at least a snippet of. Criminal Minds is basically, a group of elite profilers for the FBI who analyze the most dangerous serial killers and individuals concurring in dangerous crimes in order to put them away for all of their crimes. I personally have viewed this show and I can say it is very good and can be addicting if you’re into crime shows. The way that Criminal Minds works is in a matter of about 45-60 minutes, they have found all the evidence, caught the criminal and put them away. It is completely incorrect time wise when it comes to solving cases. Although there are negative effects to the CSI Effect, there are also some positive effects. Luckily, Rasmussen College also shows us the positive aspects of the CSI Effect. One look is how jurors are becoming more knowledgeable. In one way, they know beforehand what evidence is relevant and irrelevant to the case. This helps when coming to an ending decision.

Another positive effect is that due to CSI TV shows, more people are wanting to be in those types of fields. (Lawyer, Judge, Criminal Investigator, etc.) This helps because most people tend to overlook wanting to be in those sorts of fields and having people starting to want to be in those specific fields helps. For example, I personally want to be an International Lawyer. I became interested in the concept when I was around 10. I had just begun watching Criminal Minds and NCIS and other shows and the whole concept of being a lawyer fascinated me and ever since I've just wanted to be a lawyer.

In conclusion, the CSI Effect does influence our view on the courtroom. Although, there are positive aspects to the CSI Effect, there are still downsides that play a bigger part. These downsides altogether prove that our tv shows have a great impact on our lives and that the reality of them needs to be just that, real, it’s the only way to show the truth. So, what do we do now? We educate, we need to be knowledgeable on everything especially when it comes down to determining someone’s future.