Frontline PBS Documentary on the real CSI

In 2006, over 100 million people in the United States tuned in to watch either CSI or any if the other forensic and criminal investigation related television show each week (CJSG). Since then, the number of viewers has increased rapidly, as well as the amount of television shows with the same type of theme. As a result of the increase of these television programs, researchers are discovering a new phenomenon called the ‘CSI Effect’ that seems to be fueling an interest in forensic science and criminal investigations nationwide. This effect is actually the ability of criminal justice themed television shows to influence and increase victims’, jurors’ and criminals’ ideas about forensics, DNA testing and methods, and criminal investigations

The CSI effect has a very major influence on today’s crime scene. The CSI effect is no myth. It gives the idea of considerable forensic evidence may be very prevalent to a crime scene. Television crime shows may give a misleading imitation that all evidence is relevant. Most evidence may be thrown out because it does not have any significance.

As the search continued in the car, there was a smell of decomposition in the car. When Cindy Anthony first called the police she claimed “There’s something wrong. I found my daughter’s car today. It smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.” (Tru TV) later on when the car was taken by the police she said that the smell could have come from garbage in the car. The County Sherriff’s Detective Yuri Melich testified in court saying “I was a homicide detective for 2 years and in my opinion the smell coming from the car was the smell of decomposition.” (Examiner) To investigate the odor in the trunk, they brought in Dr. Vass who used a new technique to define the odor in the trunk. This was debated in court because it is a new technique. However the FBI laboratory used gas chromatography mass spectrometer, it isolated the compounds found in the car and 67% of the compounds were found linked to human decomposition. There were also high levels of chloroform found in the trunk, but the evidence could not be cleared as chloroform from a decomposing body or from that of something else.

Teresa Halbach’s car, keys, and bonesbody were all found on Steven Avery's property. Her car was found in Steven’s auto salvage. Her car was found far back out, covered with branches and wood. Blood, Sweat, and fingerprints from Steven Avery were found in her car. The car keys were found inside of Stevens House. In addition bullets were found in Steven Avery’s garage. These bullets matched the rifle he had hanging above his bed. In addition, the most important piece of evidence found in this case was Teresa Halbach body. There had been a burn pit where Steven burned wood, tires, old things, and Teresa's Body. Her bones were found scattered all over in the burn poit. In front of Steven Avery's door were Teresa's cellphone and

While investigations were going on to determine how victims died, there was a discovery of fibers on the victims’ bodies. The goal of the investigator was to determine if any fibers in Wayne Williams home or person matched those fibers found on the victims. Williams denied killing

Expert witnesses testified that Casey Anthony did Internet searches for 'chloroform' and 'how to make cloroform' on a desktop computer at her parents' home when both of her parents were at work. According to the Caylee Marie Anthony Case, An expert witness from Oak Ridge National Laboratory told jurors he found shockingly high levels of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car as her trial moved into the third week of testimony. Dr. Arpad Vass also said could find "no other plausible explanation" for other chemicals he found on carpet in the trunk except the presence of a dead body (Montaldo, Charles). Casey paid to protect her story so the Federal Bankruptcy Judge signed off on a deal that will allow Casey Anthony to pay the bankruptcy trustee $25,000 in exchange for not having to sell her life story to pay her debts and not only that she lied to the investigators numerous of times. Anthony told investigators that a nanny named Zenaida Gonzales had kidnapped Caylee. On June 23, 2011, The state of Florida's circumstantial case against Casey Anthony for the death of her daughter Caylee took two stunning blows when the defendant's mother testified that she used the family computer to search for "chloroform" and the stain in the trunk of the Pontiac Sunfire was there when the car was purchased in 2000. The evidence goes on and on and it doesn’t add

Detectives revealed that they had found strands of hair that looked like Caylee’s, in the trunk of the Anthonys family car (abcnews). They also found that the cadaver dogs had smelled human decomposition in the car (abcnews). With the bail being set to $500,000, officials say Casey is a person of interest so they’re treating this case as a potential homicide (abcnews). Me being a private investigator I wasn't welcome around many places. Casey didn't want me to get in the way of the private investigator she had already hired.

Inside a morbid place was the living and the dead. The pathologist, a burly bearded bifocal wearing man, had scheduled cadaver 9252012 for autopsy that day. It was stored inside drawer F, one of twenty-one refrigerated cabinets. It is a grim place, the laboratory where these butcheries are conducted. Lingering in the air is the foul stench of death, the chemicals used to suppress the ghastly odor only intensifying it, rendering a fusion of ammonia, chlorine and rot. Positioned in the center of the room is a cadaver dissection table, a polished slab of steel surrounded by troughs to catch the oozing blood and bodily fluids that escape the corpses during the process. Detective Ron Burlingame of the Lake City, Florida Police Department, requested

The definition of forensic science is any scientific research, method, or theory used to analyze evidence in an attempt to solve legal cases (Cho). In recent years, there has been growing public interest in forensic science, arguably because of the numerous television programs that glamorize its practices. This phenomenon is part of what is known as the CSI effect, or the process through which devoted fans of popular crime dramas develop unrealistic notions of forensic science methods, practices, and their applications in real life cases (Mancini 544; Stevens 37; Ley, Jankowski, and Brewer 52). The CSI effect has had more negative impacts on forensic science and society than positive impacts, especially in regards to what goes on in the

In the TV shows that popularized forensic science – so much so that it has become one of the most sought after majors by undergraduate college students – the fictionalized lab technicians are well trained and engage in exciting work helping to solve crimes. In real life, however, the technicians are not always well trained, they may frequently be overworked, they are usually underpaid, and they constantly battle an overload of evidence that needs to be analyzed. Furthermore, the scientific techniques they use may not be science at all.

Forensic Science has contributed to our world a great deal. People often misunderstand Forensic Science and believe it is much more capable than it really is. As a matter of fact what you see on T.V. is around 80% false or over exaggerated in some way. To Start of, Criminal Investigation is the largest and most known form of Forensic Science. Some of the more known areas include; Fingerprinting, Ballistics, DNA Identification, Fiber Samples, Computer Animation, Documentation analysis, etc. To get this out of the way in the beginning, what you saw on last night’s law and order is far from the truth. Things they do in a matter of hours take months at a time, and most of the time aren’t even plausible concepts.

This truth forms an essential link between the enforcement of law and protection of the public in the administration of justice.” Forensic pathology is clearly a crucial role in the justice system. You have to be a little weird and crazy to have a passion for the kind of work that the coroners and M.E. go through on an everyday basis. They use past knowledge to make decisions on how death occurred and they come across many different postmortem changes in dead bodies. Every field is important in forensics, but pathology advocates for truth and justice to dead

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.

CSI shows offer a more finite resolution, which, can lead its viewing audience and taxpayers, to expect its real life law enforcement officials immediately solve crimes. Often times, forensic evidence is limited, and those very members of society who demand such resolve are hesitant to participate in the crime solving process as witnesses.

Fingerprinting is used for many things, such as a robbery, or at a crime scene. Fingerprints were first discovered in 1870 by Alphonse Bertillon, who was a French anthropologist. In 1892, Juan Vucetich had made the first criminal report using a fingerprint. In 1905 America used fingerprints for identification. When America started using fingerprints for identification they had to match the fingerprints manually when needed. When technology was able to enter fingerprints, and match them with anonymous ones, it helped identification immensely.