Is Television Affecting the American Legal System?
anything but a conviction?” thought Illinois State Attorney Robert Haida. After all, they had the bad guy cold. Then the jury returned and the foreman declared, “Not guilty.” A juror approached a shocked Haida after the trial and said, “We think he did it, but where were the fingerprints on the drug baggies? Why didn’t you take prints at the scene?” “Well,” Haida replied, “because two of our police officers saw the defendant handle the baggies. We didn’t need to take fingerprints.” Bob Haida had just experienced a CSI moment. With millions of potential jurors tuning in to television shows like CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Cold Case, NCIS, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Without a Trace, the possibility that jurors have seen at least one episode is highly likely. The result: too many jurors expect DNA, fingerprints and other undisputed evidence be presented at every trial. Prosecutors call it the “CSI effect,” and Haida and the law enforcement community are wary. They
