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The CSI Effect": Exposing the Media Myth

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The CSI Effect View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Fordham University School of Law Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 16 Volume XVI Number 2 Volume XVI Book 2 Article 2 2005 "The CSI Effect": Exposing the Media Myth Kimberlianne Podlas University of North Carolina, Greensboro, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Kimberlianne Podlas, "The CSI Effect": Exposing the Media Myth , 16 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 429 (2005). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol16/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CSIPODLAS 3/17/2006 11:00 AM “The CSI Effect”: Exposing the Media Myth Dr. Kimberlianne Podlas∗ INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 430 I. CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION AND “THE CSI EFFECT”. 432 A. CREATING UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS AND INCREASING THE PROSECUTION’S BURDEN ........................................... 433 B. INFALLIBILITY OF SCIENCE ................................................ 437 C. INCREASING INTEREST IN FORENSIC SCIENCES ................... 442 II. THE INFLUENCE OF TELEVISION............................................. 443 A. THEORY OF INFLUENCE..................................................... 447 III. CONSTRUCTING A “CSI EFFECT” ........................................... 451 IV. INVESTIGATING THE CSI EFFECT ........................................... 453 A. OVERVIEW ........................................................................ 453 B. INVESTIGATING CSI EPISODE CONTENT............................. 453 C. INVESTIGATING INFLUENCE ON VIEWER VERDICTS ............. 454 1. Instruments.................................................................. 454 2. Criminal Law Scenario ............................................... 455 3. Verdict sheet ............................................................... 455 D. RESULTS ........................................................................... 457 1. Television Exposure Measures ................................... 457 E. ANALYSIS OF VERDICTS ..................................................... 458 ∗ Assistant Professor of Media Law, Dept. of Broadcasting & Cinema, University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Former Associate Appellate Counsel, The Legal Aid Society (Criminal Appeals Bureau); JD magna cum laude, SUNY Buffalo (1991); BS magna cum laude, SUNY Buffalo (1988). 429 CSIPODLAS 3/17/2006 11:00 AM 430 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. [Vol. 16:429] 1. The Embedded “Not Guilty” Verdict ......................... 458 2. CSI-Influenced NOT GUILTY Verdicts .................... 459 3. Guilty Verdicts............................................................ 459 4. CSI Impact Measures .................................................. 459 5. Statistical Analysis of NOT GUILTY verdicts and frequency of CSI viewing........................................... 459 V. DISCUSSION: THE “CSI EFFECT” MYTH EXPOSED ................. 461 VI. EMPIRICAL CONCERNS........................................................... 464 CONCLUSION................................................................................ 465 INTRODUCTION Almost since the advent of television, legal scholars and practitioners alike have contemplated the impact of law-oriented entertainment programming, such as Perry Mason, LA Law, and The People’s Court, on the public.1 Even the Supreme Court2 and the American Bar Association3 have acknowledged that television impacts the public’s perception of the legal system. Consequently, in the last decade, scholars have begun investigating the impact of 1 See generally MICHAEL ASIMOW & SHANNON MADER, LAW AND POPULAR CULTURE (2004); PRIME TIME LAW (Robert M. Jarvis & Paul R. Joseph eds., 1998); Anthony Chase, Lawyers and Popular Culture: A Review of Mass Media Portrayals of American Attorneys, 1986 AM. B. FOUND. RES. J. 281 (1986); see Anthony Chase, Toward a Legal Theory of Popular Culture, 1986 WIS. L. REV. 527, 547-554 (1986) [hereinafter Chase, Toward]; David A. Harris, The Appearance of Justice: Court TV, Conventional Television, and Public Understanding of the Criminal Justice System, 35 ARIZ. L. REV. 785, 786 (1993); Kimberlianne Podlas, The Monster in the Television: The Media’s Contribution to the Consumer Litigation Boogeyman, 34 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REV. 239, 261 (2004) [hereinafter Podlas, Monster]. 2 See Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 575 (1980) (“educative effect” on public of televised proceedings); Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 548-49, 589 (1965) (Harlan, J., concurring) (explaining that television performs educational function by acquainting public with judicial process); see also RICHARD L. FOX & ROBERT W. VAN SICKEL, TABLOID CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF MEDIA FRENZY 5–8 (2001) (describing academic theories of impact of media coverage of trials on public attitudes). 3 American Bar Association Report on Perceptions of the US Justice System, 62 ALB. L. REV. 1307, 1315 (1999) (stating that “media can and does impact some people’s knowledge”). CSIPODLAS 3/17/2006 11:00 AM 2006] EXPOSING THE MYTH OF “THE CSI EFFECT” 431 pop cultural representations of law, such as dramatic and “reality” shows, on the public.4 CBS’s top-rated drama C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation5 is the most recent television program to interest the public as well as the Bar. National popular press stories, beginning with a 2004 USA Today report6 and culminating with the U.S. News & World Report’s spring cover story, “The CSI Effect, How TV is Driving Jury Verdicts All Across America,”7 charge that the popular drama is causing a “CSI Effect.” If these stories are to be believed, CSI is altering the way in which jurors assess criminal trial evidence, thus impacting the administration of justice. Although there is some surface appeal and anecdotal evidence to support such claims,8 there is, as of yet, no empirical evidence to substantiate them.9 Nevertheless, if CSI contributes to the pop cultural landscape that shapes perceptions of the legal process or if it impacts juror decision-making, “The CSI Effect” merits serious investigation. Consequently, this study attempts to amass the first empirical evidence of whether a “CSI Effect” exists, what it is, and whether 4 See, e.g., ASIMOW & MADER, supra note 1; Kimberlianne Podlas, As Seen on TV: The Normative Influence of Syndi-Court on Contemporary Litigiousness, 11 VILL. SPORTS & ENT. L.J. 1, 1–2 (2004) [hereinafter Podlas, As Seen on TV]; Robert A. Clifford, The Impact Of Popular Culture on the Perception of Lawyers, 28 LITIG. 1 (Fall 2002); Lawrence M. Friedman & Issachar Rosen-Zvi, Illegal Fictions: Mystery Novels and The Popular Culture Image of Crime, 48 UCLA L. REV. 1411 (2001); RICHARD K. SHERWIN, WHEN LAW GOES POP (2000) [hereinafter Sherwin, POP]; PRIME TIME LAW, supra note 1; Richard K. Sherwin, Introduction: Picturing Justice: Images of Law and Lawyers in the Visual Media, 30 U.S.F.L. REV. 891, 898 (1996) [hereinafter Sherwin, Introduction]; David M. Spitz, Notes And Comments: Heroes Or Villains? Moral Struggles vs. Ethical Dilemmas: An Examination Of Dramatic Portrayals Of Lawyers And The Legal Profession In Popular Culture, 24 NOVA L. REV. 725, 729-30 (2000) (intended for public as whole). 5 See THE HOLLYWOOD REP., Apr. 20, 2005, at 13. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation averaged 26.4 million viewers for the 2004-05 television season. Id. 6 Richard Willing, “CSI Effect” Has Juries Wanting More Evidence, USA TODAY, Aug. 5, 2004, at 01A. 7 Kit R. Roane, The CSI Effect, How TV is Driving Jury Verdicts All Across America, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP., Apr. 25, 2005, at 48. 8 Cf. Simon Cole and Rachel Dioso, Editorial Page; Taste Commentary, Law And The Lab: Do TV Shows Really Affect How Juries Vote? Let’s Look At The Evidence, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, May 13, 2005 (“finding only anecdotal evidence”). 9 See Cole and Dioso, supra note 8, at 48 (stating that there is “not a shred of evidence” of CSI Effect). CSIPODLAS 3/17/2006 11:00 AM 432 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. [Vol. 16:429] it impacts the administration of criminal justice via juror deliberations. To that end, after detailing three conceptions of “The CSI Effect,” this paper advances a theory of media influence on lay understandings of law. It then extends that base to articulate the operation of a so-called “CSI Effect.” Next, the paper turns to empirical investigation, presenting a study of 254 jury eligible adults who responded to surveys of television and CSI viewing habits as well as to a criminal law scenario measuring the potential impact of CSI viewing. The results show that, despite numerous media stories and law enforcement warnings of a “CSI Effect” crippling our criminal justice system, no such effect exists—at least not any effect that harms, rather than helps, the prosecution. I. CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION AND “THE CSI EFFECT” As noted, “The CSI Effect” refers to a supposed impact of the popular CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.10
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