Little evidence that popular crime show influences real cases

The TV showCSI, which weekly shows investigators deftly cracking cases of murder most foul, may enthrall viewers, but it's done little to make the justice system more efficient in reality, a Montreal criminologist says.

Nor has the popular franchise made criminals smarter, by teaching them tricks of the trade.

The so-called CSI effect has been negligible at best and prosecutors aren't feeling the pinch to provide more forensic evidence at trial, like their fictional counterparts do to win convictions on the show, says Universitéde Montréal professor Benoît Dupont.

Since the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered in 2000 — with spinoff CSI: Miami coming in 2002 and CSI: NY in 2004 —conviction rates have risen and clearance rates reveal that criminals aren't getting away with more crimes than before.

However, CSI — the most-watched TV show in North America— has made crime scene science sexier and more appealing to the public.

And while viewers realize that it's fiction, many North Americans' perception of police is based solely on what they watch on television.

"Sometimes people realize that the storyline is fictional but the techniques are real and available in the real world," Dupont said. "People might be disappointed if they don't see the police putting in the same effort as in the CSI series. They might find the police a little less legitimate."

Some prosecutors in the United States have blamed what they call "the CSI effect" for cases being dismissed or the accused acquitted when there is a lack of forensic evidence presented in court.

Also, smaller police jurisdictions have had to spend money to hire technicians for crime scenes, where until recently a uniformed officer would have been acceptable.

"One single [CSI ] episode costs about $3 million to produce," Dupont says. "This is probably the budget of a real lab for a whole year, so there's no way they are going to be able to buy all this technology in real life. They'll have to make choices."

In a survey conducted in Maricopa County, Ariz., jurors indicated disappointment when there was a lack of forensic evidence at the trial they sat on, and nearly 75 per cent expected scientific evidence, Dupont said.

The reality is different.

A study by criminologist Jean-Paul Brodeur of 153 homicides committed in Montreal between 1990 and 2001 shows forensic evidence being used in only 0.7 per cent of cases. That's opposed to 22.5 per cent of cases using eyewitness accounts and 20.5 per cent involving spontaneous confession.

Not to say forensics doesn't play a big role.

Quebec provincial police forensic scientist Alexandre Beaudoin, who has invented an application for a solution used to lift fingerprints off wet paper, says most of what you see onCSI is accurate and in use, but dressed up considerably by Hollywood.

"Almost 99 per cent of what you see is real but it's so extreme, you couldn't do it in real life," Beaudoin says.

The Canadian Police College's Charles Caouette says prosecutors now treat crime scene work with more scrutiny, but in reality they're not driving around in a Hummer or interrogating suspects and making arrests, which is the way it's sometimes portrayed on the TV show.

"It glorifies the job we do," Caouette says. "We could spend 90 per cent of the time doing break-and-enters and have the odd homicide.

"But I've been involved in crime scene work for 20 years and I think it's the best job in policing."

Contrary to the belief that criminals have gotten smarter by watching the show, Dupont says the studies show simply they remain opportunistic and impulsive.

Dupont also says the pace of the TV show can mislead people about how forensics investigations really take place.

A criminal investigation is mostly processing paperwork, he says. But nobody wants to watch someone taking notes.

And he points to a Canadian auditor general's report, whichrevealed that crime lab work could take between 80 and 188 days. So to accurately portray crime scene work would involve showing backlogs and waiting around for results.

"It would be a lot more like The Office than CSI."

Dupont's message: just enjoy the show for what it is.