CSI Effect

I once considered myself a CSI fanatic, a fiend if you will, and I actually received an award from my school last year "most likely to be the next Crime Scene Investigator". Well things have changed, and I no longer watch CSI.

The American Judicial system in particular has become a victim of what is aptly named "the CSI effect". The court system is finding that members of the jury who watch CSI have unrealistic expectations of how the court proceedings and rulings ought to be. Pannels of juries have actually swayed the ruling of major court cases on a lack of "forensic evidence"...aka "there was no DNA" or "no fingerprints were found at the scene the crime". Although I do not know much about forensics I do realize how problematic this becomes. It's increbidle the power a Television show has over our society.

Unfortunately this same television show had a lot of influence on my own life. Many of the crimes that Grissom and the gang investigate involve young women who have been victims of brutal deaths. Being a woman this has caused me to become paranoid. Last month I was driving with some friends in the city, in broad day light, and a man ran accross the crosswalk and cut the corner short, and in doing so he ran into the hood of the car. This event, which should have resulted in me being puzzled, instead caused me to scream. Then another night, after watching the opening scene of an episode whereby the victim was brutally murdered in a meat grinder, I lay awake most of the night as I pictured myself being sucked into the machinery I work with... gross.

All that to say, I am a victim of the CSI Effect and for better or for worse have given up watching the show because it's just not worth losing sleep over.