CSI: Force for Good or Evil?

They are a good watch for your fantasy, but sitting in front of TV will not bring out the next Einsteins to make such an invention. We need students, and there are some in select places, that give their time to studies and start putting the knowledge learned together and use their imagination to start creating such devices.

The truth is, there are people who watch this stuff from Hollywood and think these shows are revealing the devices used now.

CSI' Crime Lab Differs From the Real Thing

CSI Myths: The Shaky Science Behind ForensicsForensic science was not developed by scientists. It was mostly created by cops, who were guided by little more than common sense. And as hundreds of criminal cases begin to unravel, many established forensic practices are coming under fire.
posted by Pragmatica

Aside from the actors, mysterious twists, and provocative storylines, the crime lab is also one of the central elements of the award-winning series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Throughout the show, the CSI team is able to trail investigations through means of forensic evidence most often realized in the walls of the scientific lab. With the use of unusual camera angles, hi-tech equipment, graphic portrayal and technical methods of evidence recovery, the procedural drama has become a favorable comparison close to reality, at least for most of its fans.

But for Bob Pino, a former Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab administrator, real-life crime scene investigations differ from those that are portrayed on television.

"With CSI on television, everything has to be done within that one hour time frame, but in real case work, there's also the actual taking in of evidence, the chain of custody matters that have to be done, then the actual evidence has to be examined by separate examiners," Pino told The Boston Channel. "The stains have to be identified and once they're identified they have to be typed up, and each one of these processes can take either days or weeks, depending on which type of testing you're doing."

In line with this, he also explains that what people see on television is not an accurate reflection of how an actual crime lab works.

"Everything goes into different compartments, different laboratories do different types of the examination. So you'd have one part that does finger prints, one part that does any kind of trace identification, one that does the state identification, and then there'd be DNA done afterwards," Pino added.

While CSI consists of a comprehensive workforce that includes a forensic entomologist, a blood spatter analyst, and an audio-video analyst to name a few, real crime labs are often understaffed and overworked.

-Kris, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

Anyway that's my take.

Cheers!

I enjoy the CSI shows.... the original is my favorite. I woudn't say it's a matter of good vs. evil, but good and bad. Like most things we encounter in life there may be a mixture of both good and bad.

The Good

• Exposing younger folks (not children as I hope they aren't watching such violent shows) to the practical (and even interesting) side of science, which may eventually spark an interest in science
• Good entertainment

The Bad

• It is TV after all, so that in itself puts a not so great light, while TV can be educational, I think there is more bang-for-the-buck out of hands on science
• As mentioned in the previous posts their is an unrealistic presentation regarding speed, accuracy, and non-boring aspects of the investigators lives.
• What concerns me the most is the insight it may give to would be criminals into ways they can cover their tracks.

The Ugly (just for fun and because I'm a Spaghetti Western/Clint Eastwood fan)

• Some of the the acting (as mentioned already)
• Excessive graphic representation of the violence.

It does for the criminal investigation field what MacGyver did for engineering.. It popularizes it. If this type of show induces you to select Forensic Science as your university major, do you think you will make a poorer investigator? No. Does it misrepresent the science somewhat? Yes. What are the consequences of that? just more people with out degrees and pseudoscientific notions. What is the solution? Encourage more people to go to school and to read, and learn real scientific procedures.

Chris

Well said Chris.

Whatever! It's good entertainment. I particularly enjoy NCIS and House for their pseudo-scientific analysis and gear. I read where House is based on real medical aliments and procedures.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." Author Unknown

If in fooling some of the people it keeps the from doing harm then that is some of the good it does.

"Your Honour, after watching CSI I turned to crime as a hobby only. I never intended for it to pay"...........

Imaginative solutions start somewhere. I read plenty of Sci Fi back in the sixties and seventies that told stories of some pretty outlandish stuff, stuff that I now live with every day....

I think the shows are entertaining, certainly a cut above all the paranormal "investigative" drek and vampire shows that are on. If they stimulate an interest in science then great. But, the effect I worry about is the effect they can have on juries. Will a jury brought up on CSI convict if there is not 100% DNA, trace, and fingerprint evidence presented? After all, they can do it on TV why not in real court? I think if every crime scene investigation was conducted as it is in the CSI shows we are going to need a few more investigators, lab techs and labs. The danger is creating unreal expectations in the real world.

The same can be said for House, apparently patients now demand a whole battery of expensive tests for every hangnail and sniffle.

I know my idea of the legal "profession" had me actually hoping for justice based on what I had "learned" from Law & Order and the other TV shows. Did you know that Pro-Bono only exists on TV? And finding a lawyer more interested in seeing justice done than seeing his bank account grow ...... good luck. Sorry slipping into rant mode there.

some things never change... in the old days the put a lock of your hair in bats blood to see if you were a witch or warlock. then burned you at the stake anyway.