Do you think shows like CSI give a false impression of how easy it is to gather and use sensitive evidence?

I mean, they get a hair or a drop of blood and they can identify the owner within a few minutes; they find a splinter and track it to someones back yard tree; they find a shoe print and match it to the suspect; they get a drop of oil and identify it as coming from such and such source; a piece of fluff is determined to come from a suspects sweater....





Do they make it look too easy and do people sometimes expect it to work that way in real life?Do you think shows like CSI give a false impression of how easy it is to gather and use sensitive evidence?
Absolutely, it's called the CSI Effect:





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_Effect





It's a real drag for prosecutors because juries expect to see all this cool forensic evidence that will clinch the case. That rarely happens.Do you think shows like CSI give a false impression of how easy it is to gather and use sensitive evidence?
It does give a false impression. Admittedly, like so many snippets of information I stumble on, a R4 programme on criminal forensics I listened to used CSI as an example and it was admitted that some of the techniques used in these programmes haven't been developed yet. I'd be surprised if a team of officers could come up with their results as seemingly easily and quickly as they do. Mind you I can no longer get C5 so I don't have to suffer those programmes.
Let me put it this way.





I'm a professional graphic artist. I will sometimes get a customer wanting some totally ruined photograph restored in a few minutes. A job that would easily take several hours.





They'll say, ';Well it goes fast on CSI.';





I'll say, ';Lady, I use Adobe CS4, not Adobe CSI. The computer stuff you see on that show is complete fiction.';





They don't want to believe. If what happened on that TV show was real, there wouldn't be any unsolved crimes.
yes they do make it look easy , far too easy and everyone thinks that by watching it they are becoming experts.actual forensic science and practice aren't easy nor is it in any way glamorous as portrayed on tv. they do use experts to find out how to make it look on tv but obviously they can't show months of forensic testing on tv, no one would want to watch
It takes many months or even years for forensic evidence to be tested.





My friend is a defense attorney and she told me that in most cases, people are found guilty on circumstantial evidence, not the physical evidence.
Of course!





Believe it or not, some uneducated folks think the anatomical animation of OTC medicine commercials is a real demonstration of the medicines actual procedure in the body!
of couse it happens like that in real life skiddo, thats why there are NO unsolved murders in the world. you have just burst my bubble, thanks lol
No; they just speed it up because it's only television and there are obvious time constraints. A lot is embellished in story lines though.
Let's just say my wife has her degree in Forensics. She cannot watch that show because of their techniques. Most of the CSI's work is report writing.
Yes. Then in real life a huge percentage of crimes go unsolved including murders.
Yes . They only have an hour to do what normally takes months or even years .
yer but then if it wasn't easy/fast on the program, no one wud watch it
would you be inclined to watch shows that depicted real life if they actually took the time of real life or the time of an hour long show?





If you want a documentary where it goes on and on for weeks until a crime is solved well that's you, I want something I can wrap my head around for an hour and have it all solved





Yes people probably do think it's that simple but people are pretty simple tho