In addition to this an increasing array of crime television shows has resulted in the development of a term known as the CSI effect in which the public, specifically jurors, have heightened expectations of the reliability of forensic evidence. This knew phenomenon was dubbed the CSI effect due to the CSI television franchise, however it can also be linked to other crime series such as Law and Order, NCIS and Criminal Minds. All of these shows have been developed in America with CSI taking place in Miami and New York, while Law and Order focuses on NYC, NCIS is in both Washington and Los Angeles while Criminal Minds follows the BAU section of the America FBI. All of these shows play regular time slots in Australian broadcasting on both free to air and paid TV in both regular slots and re-runs . Therefore it is no wonder that academics are interested in understanding the way these shows influence viewers on their understanding of the justice system. I recently wrote an essay on the topic " viewing of fictional crime television and its effects in viewers and the wider community" and during my research I found myself pondering whether or not Australia's over exposure to American based television shows has resulted in a decrease in knowledge of their own justice system.
For example are most Australians aware that we do not have a Bill of Rights or Constitution like the American's do? It seems that in shows such as Law and Order and Law and Order SVU the first Amendment is mentioned in nearly every show and how many Australians accidentally call 911 (the American Emergency number) rather then 000?
Just a few questions that i feel need to be answered in this ever shrinking world as it seems that to understand societal views on crime one must look at the 8pm time slot on television.
This is a very interesting blog you have written about and I totally agree with you about crime television shows becoming an increasing part of an individual's life. It's almost as though people watch these crime dramas to escape reality in a sense and through the characters on the shows they become the character.
ReplyDeleteThe CSI effect has influenced several real life jurors, criminals, and even increased the amount of students enrolling in forensic science programs at university. 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' often portrays the forensic science part of a crime scene as being some what very easy when it comes to finding evidence and then taking it back to the lab to analyse and bang by the end of the first half hour of the show they have the killer. However, in reality crime labs take a lot longer to process evidence because of the case load and high proportion of crimes that take place.
Another point that came into mind while reading this blog was that sometimes criminals get their ideas from shows like 'CSI', 'NCIS' and 'Law & Order'. They basically tell you everything you need to know about a crime scene and what kind of evidence they look for. Then they use it against a suspect in the court room where all the drama comes out and every show brings out the First Amendment several times. I think Australians probably know more about American laws than Australian ones because they are bombarded with American television shows.