Investigating the 'CSI effect' effect: Media and litigation crisis in criminal law

Stanford Law Review

Volumn 61, Issue 6, 2009, Pages 1335-1373

  Cole, Simon A ^a,b   Dioso Villa, Rachel ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 66849131596     PISSN: 00389765     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (232)

1. Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 306 (2004).
2. See, e.g., Shari Seidman Diamond & Mary R. Rose, Real Juries, 1 ANN. REV. L. & SOC. SCI. 255 (2005).
3. See, e.g., Geoffrey P. Kramer et al., Pretrial Publicity, Judicial Remedies, and Jury Bias, 14 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 409, 435 (1990);
4. Amy L. Otto et al., The Biasing Impact of Pretrial Publicity on Juror Judgments, 18 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 453, 454 (1994).
5. See, e.g., Edith Greene, Media Effects on Jurors, 14 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 439 (1990);
6. Valerie P. Hans & Juliet L. Dee, Media Coverage of Law: Its Impact on Juries and the Public, 35 AM. BEHAV. SCIENTIST 136 (1991).
7. Simon A. Cole & Rachel Dioso-Villa, CSI and Its Effects: Media, Juries, and the Burden of Proof, 41 NEW ENG. L. REV. 435, 435 (2007).
8. Michael Allen, Introduction: This Much I Know ... to READING CSI: CRIME TV UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 3, 4 (Michael Allen ed., 2007) [hereinafter READING CSI].
9. Silke Panse, 'The Bullets Confirm the Story Told by the Potato': Materials Without Motives in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in READING CSI, supra note 6, at 153, 153.
10. Allen, supra note 6, at 5;
11. see also Deborah Jermyn, Body Matters: Realism, Spectacle and the Corpse in CSI, in READING CSI, supra note 6, at 79, 79 ("That a programme built around the gruesome clues, secrets and promises embedded within, and articulated across, the image of the corpse could become the most successful television series in the world would have been unimaginable until relatively recently.").
12. Paige Albiniak, Sizzling 'CSI' Reruns: Off-net Procedurals Stay Strong, BROADCASTING & CABLE, Nov. 3, 2008, at 9.
13. CSI (franchise), WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ CSI-franchise (last visited Apr. 1, 2009).
14. We drew on research by Jennifer L. Christian in compiling this list.
15. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI:-Crime-Scene-Investigation#American-Ratings (last visited Jan. 8, 2009);
16. CSI: Miami, WIKIPEDIA, ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI:- Miami#U.S.-television-ratings (last visited Jan. 8, 2009);
17. CSI: New York, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ CSI:-NY# Nielsen-Ratings (last visited Jan. 8, 2009).
18. Jeffrey Kluger, How Science Solves Crimes, TIME, Oct. 21, 2002, at 36, 45.
19. Id.
20. Id.
21. Kit R. Roane, The CSI Effect, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP., Apr. 25, 2005, at 48.
22. Max M. Houck, CSI: Reality, SCI. AM., July 2006, at 84;
23. Stefan Lovgren, "'CSI' Effect" is Mixed Blessing for Real Crime Labs, NAT'L GEOGRAPHIC NEWS, Sept. 23, 2004, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/80520796.html.
24. KATHERINE RAMSLAND, THE C.S.I. EFFECT (2006).
25. For a discussion of media loops, see PETER K. MANNING, POLICING CONTINGENCIES 76-77 (2003);
26. see also Susan Bandes, Fear Factor: The Role of Media in Covering and Shaping the Death Penalty, 1 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 585, 585 (2004) (discussing a "complex feedback loop" between law and the media).
27. For an argument about the indistinguishability of "fiction" and "reality" in this discourse, see Michael Mopas, Examining the 'CSI Effect' Through an ANT Lens, 3 CRIME MEDIA CULTURE 110 (2007).
28. Linda Deutsch, 'CSI' and 'Law & Order' Lead Jurors to Great Expectations, Associated Press, Jan. 14, 2006.
29. Glenn E. Rice, TV is Making Jurors Suspicious About Evidence: CSI: Courtroom Stalemates Increase, KAN. CITY STAR, Aug. 10, 2005, at A1.
30. Roane, supra note 16, at cover.
31. Kate Coscarelli, The 'CSI' Effect: TV's False Reality Fools Jurors, Newhouse News Service, Apr. 21, 2005.
32. CBS4 Denver: CSI Has 'Major Effect' on Real Life Juries (CBS television broadcast May 5, 2005).
33. Clarence Walker, CSI (T. V. Crime Dramas) Affects the American Criminal Justice System, AMERICANMAFIA.COM, June 2005, http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature- Articles-301.html.
34. Amy Lennard Goehner et al., Ripple Effect: Where CSI Meets Real Law and Order, TIME, Nov. 8, 2004, at 69 (quoting jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn) (internal quotation marks omitted).
35. Allison Klein, Art Trips Up Life: TV Crime Shows Influence Jurors, BALT. SUN, July 25, 2004, at 1A (quoting forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello) (internal quotation marks omitted).
36. Id. (quoting Baltimore Deputy State Attorney Haven H. Kodeck) (internal quotation marks omitted).
37. DVD: CSI Effect Fact or Fiction (Fed. Bureau of Investigation Training Network #112 2000) (on file with SUNY University at Buffalo library).
38. MARICOPA COUNTY ATT'Y'S OFFICE, CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY: THE CSI EFFECT AND ITS REAL-LIFE IMPACT ON JUSTICE 1, 10 (2005) [hereinafter CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY].
39. Boatswain v. State, No. 408,2004, 2005 WL 1000565, at*2 (Del. Apr. 27, 2005) (internal citation omitted);
40. cf. Robin Franzen, TV's 'CSI' Crime Drama Makes It Look Too Easy, OREGONIAN, Dec. 10, 2002, at A01 (quoting Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis expressing prosecutors' concern about "being held to an artificial 'CSI' standard").
41. See Kimberlianne Podlas, "The CSI Effect": Exposing the Media Myth, 16 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. 429 (2006);
42. Donald E. Shelton et al., A Study of Juror Expectations and Demands Concerning Scientific Evidence: Does the " CSi Effect" Exist?, 9 VAND. J. ENT. & TECH. L. 331 (2006);
43. Tom R. Tyler, Viewing CSI and the Threshold of Guilt: Managing Truth and Justice in Reality and Fiction, 115 YALE L.J. 1050 (2006).
44. See Podlas, supra note 33;
45. Tyler, supra note 33.
46. See, e.g., Kiara Okita, The CSI Effect: Examining CSI's Effects upon Public Perceptions of Forensic Science (Fall 2007) (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Alberta) (on file with author).
47. See Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5;
48. see also Charles Loeffler, "CSI" and the Criminal Justice System: Jury Trials, NEW REPUBLIC ONLINE, June 7, 2006 (on file with authors).
49. See, e.g., Podlas, supra note 33;
50. Shelton et al., supra note 33;
51. Tyler, supra note 33;
52. Okita, supra note 35.
53. See, e.g., READING CSI, supra note 6;
54. Gray Cavender & Sarah K. Deutsch, CSI and Moral Authority: The Police and Science, 3 CRIME MEDIA CULTURE 67 (2007);
55. Martha Gever, The Spectacle of Crime, Digitized: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Social Anatomy, 8 EUROPEAN J. CULTURAL STUD. 445 (2005);
56. Mopas, supra note 20;
57. Thomas W. Nolan, Depiction of the "CSI Effect" in Popular Culture: Portrait in Domination and Effective Affectation, 41 NEW ENG. L. REV. 575 (2007).
58. See Marc Galanter, Reading the Landscape of Disputes: What We Know and Don't Know (and Think We Know) About Our Allegedly Contentious and Litigious Society, 31 UCLA L. REV. 4, 5 (1983) [hereinafter Galanter, Reading the Landscape].
59. Id. at 6.
60. Marc Galanter, The Day After the Litigation Explosion, 46 MD. L. REV. 3, 37 (1986) [hereinafter Galanter, Day After].
61. See Kimberlianne Podlas, The Monster in the Television: The Media's Contribution to the Consumer Litigation Boogeyman, 34 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REV. 239, 241 (2004).
62. See Galanter, Day After, supra note 41;
63. Marc Galanter, The Hundred-Year Decline of Trials and the Thirty Years War, 57 STAN. L. REV. 1255 (2005) [hereinafter Galanter, Decline of Trials];
64. Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39;
65. Deborah L. Rhode, Frivolous Litigation and Civil Justice Reform: Miscasting the Problem, Recasting the Solution, 54 DUKE L.J. 447 (2004);
66. Randy M. Mastro, The Myth of the Litigation Explosion, 60 FORDHAM L. REV. 199, 200 n.9 (1991) (reviewing WALTER K. OLSON, THE LITIGATION EXPLOSION (1991)). Since there is an extensive literature on the litigation explosion, we will not rehash those arguments here.
67. See The Insurance Industry: Do Its Ads Undermine Jury Impartiality?, 75 A.B.A. J. 46 (1989).
68. See, e.g., WILLIAM HALTOM & MICHAEL MCCANN, DISTORTING THE LAW: POLITICS, MEDIA, AND THE LITIGATION CRISIS 61 (2004);
69. While both the litigation explosion and the CSI effect are portrayed as litigation crises, the CSI effect is better characterized as a "litigation crisis" than as a "litigation explosion." The CSI effect refers to a supposed problem in litigation but not to any supposed increase (i.e., "explosion") in litigation.
70. Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5. The discussion in this Part draws heavily from that work.
71. Negative evidence refers to the notion of presenting testimonial evidence explaining the absence of physical evidence when the jury might construe that absence as significant. For example, the prosecution might call a forensic technician to testify that the crime scene was dusted for fingerprints but none were found to preclude the defense from insinuating that the police were too lazy or too focused on the defendant to search for fingerprints.
72. See Cynthia A. Hoffner et al., TV Characters at Work: Television's Role in the Occupational Aspirations of Economically Disadvantaged Youths, 33 J. CAREER DEV. 3, 15 (2006).
73. See, e.g., Michael M. O'Connor, The Role of the Television Drama ER in Medical Student Life: Entertainment or Socialization?, 280 J. AM. MED. ASS'N 854, 854 (1998).
74. See, e.g., John Randolph Fuller, So You Want to Be a Serial-Murderer Profiler. . ., CHRON. HIGHER EDUC., Dec. 7, 2001, at B5.
75. For an interesting discussion of convicts' perceptions of the strength of DNA evidence, see generally Barbara Prainsack & Martin Kitzberger, DNA Behind Bars: Other Ways of Knowing Forensic DNA Technologies, 39 SOC. STUD. SCI. 51, 64 (2009).
76. See infra note 129 and accompanying text.
77. it should be noted that many forensic scientists feel that aspiring forensic scientists are not well served by forensic degree programs and would be better served by mainstream science programs. See, e.g., KEITH INMAN & NORAH RUDIN, PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CRIMINALISTICS: THE PROFESSION OF FORENSIC SCIENCE 302 (2001).
78. Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 453.
79. See, e.g., Enric Volante & Kim Smith, 'CSI Effect' Impacts Justice in Tucson, ARIZ. DAILY STAR, May 8, 2005, at A1.
80. CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY, supra note 31, at 2, 5.
81. Andrew P. Thomas, The CSI Effect: Fact or Fiction, 115 YALE L.J. POCKET PART 70, 71-72 (2006), http://www.thepocketpart.org/2006/02/thomas.html;
82. see also CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY, supra note 31, at 5.
83. Thomas, supra note 58, at 72;
84. see also CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY, supra note 31.
85. Shelton et al., supra note 33, at 362.
86. Id. at 362-65.
87. Id.
88. See Nolan, supra note 38, at 580.
89. See Cynthia Hoffner & Martha Buchanan, Young Adults' Wishful Identification with Television Characters: The Role of Perceived Similarity and Character Attributes, 7 MEDIA PSYCHOL. 325, 327-28 (2005) (arguing that "[t]elevision role models . . . influence young people's occupational aspirations").
90. It might be argued that, if prosecution witnesses were already scientists to begin with, the advent of CSI should not alter the jury's perception of them as scientists. This issue is complicated by the fact that some forensic disciplines-such as forensic document analysis, latent print analysis, and firearms and toolmark analysis-are practiced by individuals who do not possess formal academic scientific credentials. (Whether they might yet be considered "scientists" is a fraught question.) on CSI, however, the same scientifically credentialed individuals who run DNA analyses and other high-tech assays also perform latent print analysis and tool mark analysis. It is, therefore, possible that CSI might increase jurors' association of practitioners of the humbler forensic disciplines with the prestigious profession of science.
91. The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data-access/ipoll/ipoll.html (last visited Apr. 4, 2009) (also on file with authors). Responses are compiled from telephone surveys of national samples of American adults conducted by Harris interactive. Sample size varied from year to year but was always greater than 1000.
92. See, e.g., Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5;
93. Tyler, supra note 33.
94. See, e.g., Roane, supra note 16;
95. Lovgren, supra note 17.
96. See, e.g., Podlas, supra note 33;
97. Podlas, supra note 42;
98. Tyler, supra note 33.
99. See, e.g., HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45;
100. Robert M. Hayden, The Cultural Logic of a Political Crisis: Common Sense, Hegemony and the Great American Liability Insurance Famine of 1986, 11 STUD, L. POL. & SOC'Y 95, 104-08 (1991).
101. See, e.g., Rhode, supra note 43.
102. See, e.g., HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45, at 183-226;
103. Shari Seidman Diamond, Truth, Justice, and the Jury, 26 HARV. J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 143, 145-47 (2003);
104. Hayden, supra note 70, at 106-08.
105. Julie Keller, D.A.: Blake Jury 'Incredibly Stupid', E!ONLINE, Mar. 24, 2005, http://www3.eonline.com/uberblog/b49519-da- blake-jury-incredibly-stupid.html.
106. Houck, supra note 17, at 86.
107. Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 455.
108. See Andy Kravetz, 'CSI' Making Impact in Courts: Area Prosecutors Battling TV Show's Reality with Real Life, PEORIA J. STAR, Sept. 4, 2005, at A1.
109. See Art Aisner, 'CSI Effect' Put Under the Scope, ANN ARBOR NEWS, May 18, 2007, at A1.
110. See e.g., HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45, at 183-226;
111. Diamond, supra note 72, at 146.
112. See, e.g., Klein, supra note 28, at 1A.
113. See Keller, supra note 73.
114. See John Lande, Failing Faith in Litigation? A Survey of Business Lawyers' and Executives' Opinions, 3 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 1 (1998);
115. see also Galanter, Decline of Trials, supra note 43, at 1267 n.36;
116. Podlas, supra note 42, at 244.
117. See Michael J. Watkins, Forensics in the Media: Have Attorneys Reacted to the Growing Popularity of Forensic Crime Dramas? 59 (Aug. 3, 2004) (unpublished M.A. thesis, Florida State University) (on file with authors).
118. See CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY, supra note 31, at 5;
119. see also Thomas, supra note 58, at 70.
120. Thomas, supra note 58, at 70.
121. See Monica L.P. Robbers, Blinded by Science: The Social Construction of Reality in Forensic Television Shows and its Effect on Criminal Jury Trials, 19 CRIM. JUST. POL'Y REV. 84, 91-98 (2008).
122. See id. at 91-92.
123. See Dennis J. Stevens, Forensic Science, Wrongful Convictions, and American Prosecutor Discretion, 47 HOW. J. 31, 46 (2008).
124. See Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 458;
125. see also Tyler, supra note 33, at 1078 (speculating that the CSI effect describes prosecutors' attempts to understand jury behavior).
126. See Podlas, supra note 33, at 455-61.
127. See Shelton et al., supra note 33, at 332-39.
128. See okita, supra note 35, at 47.
129. Id. at 103.
130. See Steven M. Smith et al., Exploring the CSI Effect: Is It Real? If So, What Is It?, Address at the North American Correctional and Criminal Justice Psychology Conference, in PROCEEDINGS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CORRECTIONAL & CRIMINAL JUSTICE PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE, 2008, at 81, 83.
131. See Kimberlianne Podlas, The 'CSI Effect' and Other Forensic Fictions, 27 LOY. L.A. ENT. L. REV. 87, 112-21 (2007).
132. See N.J. Schweitzer & Michael J. Saks, The CSI Effect: Popular Fiction About Forensic Science Affects the Public's Expectations About Real Forensic Science, 47 JURIMETRICS J. 357, 360-63 (2007).
133. See Margaret A. Berger, The Impact of DNA Exonerations on the Criminal Justice System, 34 J.L. MED. & ETHICS 320, 322 (2006).
134. See Gwen Jenkins et al., The CSI Effect: Mock Jurors' Sensitivity to the Reliability of Forensic Evidence, Address at Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Jacksonville, Fla. (Mar. 5-8, 2008) (on file with authors).
135. HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45, at 73;
136. Galanter, Day After, supra note 41;
137. Galanter, Decline of Trials, supra note 43;
138. Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39;
139. Michael Saks, If There Be a Crisis, How Shall We Know It?, 46 MD. L. REV., 63 (1986).
140. Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39, at 71.
141. Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 462.
142. See, e.g., Podlas, supra note 33, at 461;
143. see also Tyler, supra note 33, at 1084.
144. Loeffler, supra note 36. The states were New York, Texas, Illinois, and California.
145. Benoit Dupont, The CSI Effect: Myths and Reality, Address at 29th Annual Conference of the Canadian identification Association (Nov. 24, 2008).
146. These eleven states included California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Vermont.
147. The sources of the data are: BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, U.S. DEP'T OF JUSTICE, SOURCEBOOK OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS ONLINE, available at http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook;
148. IRCUIT COURTS OF ILL., CASELOAD AND STATISTICAL RECORDS, available at http://www.state.il. us/COURT/SupremeCourt/AnnualReport/2006/ Stat/caseload.pdf;
149. Fla. Office of the State Courts Adm'r, Florida's Trial Courts Statistical Reference Guide, available athttp://www.flcourts.org/gen-public/stats/ reference-guide.shtml;
150. JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CAL., ANNUAL DATA REFERENCE FOR 1994-1995, available at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/3-stats.htm;
151. JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CAL., COURT STATISTICS REPORTS, STATEWIDE CASELOAD TRENDS, available at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/ 3-stats.htm;
152. N.C. JUDICIAL BRANCH, ADMIN. OFFICE OF THE COURTS, CASELOAD INVENTORY BY COUNTY, SUPERIOR COURT CRIMINAL, DISPOSITION ACTIVITY, STATEWIDE SUMMARY (courtesy of Mr. Patrick Tamer, Statistical Programmer Analyst, Research and Planning Div., N.C. Admin. Office of the Courts);
153. OFFICE OF COURT ADM'R, ANNUAL STATISTICAL REPORT FOR THE TEXAS JUDICIARY, available at http://www.courts.state.tx.us/pubs/annual-reports.asp;
154. STATE OF HAW., JUDICIARY, OFFICE OF THE ADMIN. DIR., STATEWIDE CIRCUIT COURT CRIMINAL (on file with the Stanford Law Review);
155. STATE OF N.Y., REPORT OF THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR OF THE COURTS, available at http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reports/annual;
156. STATE OF VT. SUPREME COURT, JUDICIAL STATISTICS (2000) (on file with the Stanford Law Review);
157. STATE OF VERMONT SUPREME COURT, JUDICIAL STATISTICS (1999) (on file with the Stanford Law Review);
158. STATE OF VERMONT SUPREME COURT, JUDICIAL STATISTICS (1998) (on file with the Stanford Law Review);
159. t. Judiciary, AnnualStatistics, DistrictCourt, available athttp://www.vermontjudiciary. org/Statistics/default.aspx.
160. The California data does not allow the removal of misdemeanors because, although convictions are broken out into felonies and misdemeanors, acquittals are aggregated. We do not feel that the inclusion of a small number of California misdemeanors in the felony data is likely to substantially distort our findings. To give some idea of what we mean by a "small number" of misdemeanors: in 2007, misdemeanors accounted for 4.5% of all convictions recorded by the California Superior Courts.
161. See JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, COURT STATISTICS REPORTS, STATEWIDE CASELOAD TRENDS (2008), available at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/documents/csr2008.pdf.
162. Note: all tests were not significant atp.05.
163. Strictly speaking, our sample was not random. It was a convenience sample dictated by which states compile acquittal rate data. Nonetheless, we think it is still appropriate to treat the sample as random because we did not exercise any choice in selecting which states would supply the sample data.
164. Had we wanted to use data from earlier than 1997, we would have had to exclude the State of New York, which accounts for a large amount of data.
165. See HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45.
166. Id. at 67.
167. Id. at 148;
168. see also id. at 100, 109.
169. Id. at 148.
170. See id. at 165-66;
171. Daniel S. Bailis & Robert J. MacCoun, Estimating Liability Risks with the Media as Your Guide: A Content Analysis of Media Coverage of Tort Litigation, 20 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 419, 425-26 (1996);
172. Steven Garber & Anthony G. Bower, Newspaper Coverage of Automotive Product Liability Verdicts, 33 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 93 (1999).
173. See Stephen S. Meinhold & David W. Neubauer, Exploring Attitudes About the Litigation Explosion, 22 JUST. SYS. J. 105 (2001);
174. cf. Edith Greene et al., Jurors' Attitudes About Civil Litigation and the Size of Damage Awards, 40 AM. U. L. REV. 805, 814, 817 (1991) (finding a high degree of belief in a "litigation explosion" but a lack of belief in an insurance "crisis").
175. See, e.g., Galanter, Decline of Trials, supra note 43, at 1267-68.
176. Elizabeth Loftus, Insurance Advertising and Jury Awards, 65 A.B.A. J. 68, 70 (1979).
177. Valerie P. Hans & William S. Lofquist, Jurors' Judgments of Business Liability in Tort Cases: Implications for the Litigation Explosion Debate, 26 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 85, 93-97 (1992).
178. Id. at 97.
179. Id.
180. Edith Greene et al., supra note 115, at 816-17.
181. Id. at 808-09 (citing S. Daniels, Civil Juries, Civil Jury Verdict Reporters, and the Going Rate (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association in Chicago, 1986));
182. see also H. ROSS, SETTLED OUT OF COURT: THE SOCIAL PROGRESS OF INSURANCE CLAIMS 112-16 (1970).
183. Jennifer K. Robbennolt & Christina A. Studebaker, News Media Reporting on Civil Litigation and Its Influence on Civil Justice Decision Making, 27 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 5, 23 (2003).
184. Elizabeth Harvey & Linda Derksen, The CSI Effect: Science Fiction or Social Fact?, in DECONSTRUCTING THE CSI EFFECT: PRODUCING NARRATIVES OF JUSTICE AND SCIENCE, PRODUCING TELEVISION DRAMA 18, 25-26 (Valerie Marie Johnson & Michelle Byers eds., 2009).
185. We eliminated academic articles because we were interested in studying the characterization of the CSI effect in popular media, not scholarly discourse.
186. HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45, at 203.
187. See generally Lisbeth Clausen, Localizing the Global: 'Domestication'Processes in International News Production, 26 MEDIA CULTURE & SOC'Y 25 (2004) (describing a similar process of "news domestication").
188. Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 444.
189. one article mentioned what we call the "Hollywood effect." This held that CSI had induced forensic scientists to forego their careers in law enforcement in order to work as consultants in the entertainment industry. Richard Willing, Medium Sends Message to U.S. Court System: 'CSI' Effect Has Juries Wanting More Evidence, CHI. SUN-TIMES, Aug. 15, 2004, at 1.
190. Another article mentioned what we call the "Joseph Smith effect." The claim here was that CSI had promulgated the notion that "DNA proves pretty much everything" and thus undermined faith in the teachings of the Book of Mormon by contradicting claims that Native Americans were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Carrie A. Moore, DNA Claims Rebutted on Book of Mormon, DESERET MORNING NEWS, Oct. 23, 2007.
191. For a fascinating account of this controversy, see generally Gary Edmond & Simon Southerton, Almost Apostasy: Human DNA Genealogy and the Latter-day Saints (unpublished manuscript on file with author).
192. See, e.g., The Jury Is In: TVDoesn't Sway Justice, GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, May 21, 2007, at A3 [hereinafter The Jury Is In].
193. See Harvey & Derksen, supra note 124, at 25-26.
194. See id. at 28.
195. HALTOM & MCCANN, supra note 45, at 148 (internal quotation marks omitted).
196. See Podlas, supra note 33, at 452;
197. Tyler, supra note 33, at 1063.
198. See, e.g., Walt Belcher, College Teacher Finds Some Evidence Debunking Alleged 'CSIEffect' on Verdicts, TAMPA TRIB., Feb. 16, 2006, at 4;
199. The Jury Is In, supra note 130.
200. Susan Clairmont, Public Is a Victim of 'The CSI Effect', HAMILTON SPECTATOR, Sept. 29, 2005, at A01.
201. Galanter, Reading the Landscapes, supra note 39, at 65.
202. Clairmont, supra note 136.
203. Carlene Hempel, TV's Whodunit Effect: Police Dramas Are Having an Unexpected Impact in the Real World: The Public Thinks Every Crime Can be Solved, and Solved Now-Just Like on Television, BOSTON GLOBE, Feb. 9, 2003, (Magazine), at 13.
204. Roane, supra note 16, at 48.
205. Sonya Neufeld, Sorting Fact from Fiction, HOBART MERCURY, June 25, 2005, at B07.
206. See Robbennolt & Studebaker, supra note 123, at 22.
207. See Rhode, supra note 43, at 472.
208. Hans & Lofquist, supra note 118, at 111-12.
209. See id. at 112.
210. See, e.g., Robbennolt & Studebaker, supra note 123, at 15.
211. It should also be noted that judges who believe these things might also be unconsciously more sympathetic to the prosecution. Although some judges have evinced skepticism, e.g., Shelton et al., supra note 33, our data set contains numerous statements by judges attesting to the existence of the strong prosecutor's CSI effect.
212. See, e.g., Maggi Newhouse, Real-Life Investigators Indict 'CSI' for Perjury, PITTSBURGH TRIB.-REV., Apr. 13, 2005;
213. Dana Sullivan, Get Set for Jurors with CSI IQs, N.J. LAWYER, JUNE 13, 2005, at 1.
214. Okita, supra note 35, at 106.
215. See CSI: MARICOPA COUNTY, supra note 31, at 11.
216. See Harvey & Derksen, supra note 124, at 18.
217. See Joshua D. Kelner, The Anatomy of an Image: Unpacking the Case for Tort Reform, 31 U. DAYTON L. REV. 243, 246 (2006) (noting that "[f]irst, a litany of scholars has adeptly refuted the arguments propounded by the proponents of tort reform" and "[s]econd, though with less frequency, scholars have devoted attention to understanding how the critique of the legal system functions, on both logical and symbolic levels").
218. The work of Professor Galanter is a prime example. See, e.g., Galanter, Decline of Trials, supra note 43;
219. Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39.
220. Saks, supra note 98, at 74.
221. See Diamond, supra note 72, at 144;
222. Kelner, supra note 151, at 266.
223. See Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39, at 66;
224. see also Hayden, supra note 70, at 110.
225. Galanter, Decline of Trials, supra note 43, at 1269.
226. Galanter, Reading the Landscape, supra note 39, at 6.
227. See TAL GOLAN, LAWS OF MEN AND LAWS OF NATURE: THE HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERT TESTIMONY IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 263 (2004) (recounting law's "two centuries of growing . . . dependence on, and frustration with, science").
228. This notion is a theme in, for example, KEN ALDER, THE LIE DETECTORS: THE HISTORY OF AN AMERICAN OBSESSION (2007);
229. JAY D. ARONSON, GENETIC WITNESS: SCIENCE, LAW, AND CONTROVERSY IN THE MAKING OF DNA PROFILING (2007);
230. ICHAEL LYNCH ET AL., TRUTH MACHINE: THE CONTENTIOUS HISTORY OF DNA F INGERPRINTING (2008);
231. Jennifer L. Mnookin, Idealizing Science and Demonizing Experts: An Intellectual History of Expert Evidence, 52 VILL. L. REV. 763 (2007).
232. See Cole & Dioso-Villa, supra note 5, at 468-69.