CSI 효과(THE CSI EFFECT)- 미국에서의 논의를 중심으로

Popularity of TV programs such as “Crime Scene Inspection (CSI),” “Law & Order,” “Silent Witness,” “Waking the Dead,” “Crossing Jordan,” and “Cold Case” bare witness to an increasing popularity in science investigation. Crime as entertainment has cemented a place in popular culture. Viewers are now exposed to American reality television shows. Recently, the CSI series has become the focus of increased media attention. Magazines and newspapers speculate the series has produced a “CSI effect” where TV superscientists misrepresentation of science investigation is affecting courts, campuses and criminals. 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. Therefore, two of a number of hypotheses loosely referred to as the CSI effect suggest that the television program and its spin-offs, which wildly 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) burdening the defense by creating exaggerated faith in the capabilities and reliability of the forensic sciences. Some researches support the CSI effect which prosecutor and lawyers are facing greater pressure from science-savvy juries to present sophisticated forensic evidence in court. Meanwhile, legal scholars found the CSI effect does not exist or if so, CSI effect would be the opposite - that the general tendency would be to convict people with a lower threshold. There are many arguments whether there exist or not.