Essay on "TV's Impact on Jurors"

Essay 3 pages (1085 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Television's Impact On Jurors

Juror qualifications have long been a topic of discussion for those in the legal field. Jurors that are over-educated may be difficult to lead through evidentiary procedures because they consider themselves to know more than the prosecutor, defense counsel, or the witnesses that they present. On the other hand, jurors with little knowledge can be dangerous, because they might have a hard time grasping and understanding complex technical evidence. Both of those issues have plagued the court system for years, with different attorneys having different opinions about the qualities of an ideal juror. However, there is a new problem with modern juries, not the educated juror vs. The uneducated juror, but the wrongly educated juror. Many of today's jurors consider themselves experts in criminal justice, not because of any actual life experience, but because of information they have learned watching television shows. This is referred to as the CSI effect, after the first of the television shows to make forensic science the focus of the standard law drama. "The CSI effect can best be described as a phenomenon where television 'educated' jurors are more likely to not convict someone who is guilty because procedures and techniques they observed from the fictional television show were not applied in the case" (Heinrick, 2006). However, CSI was simply the first in a wave of television shows to feature forensics as a plot device. Moreover, other shows that, like Law and Order, which may inaccurately depict the legal process, also lead jurors to have unrealistic expectations about proper police procedure.

For years, defense attorneys have sought juries that have very little actual knowledge of the law or legal processes. Because those juries do not come into court knowing about procedure, they could be more easily manipulated than knowledgeable juries. Today's defense attorneys may have a different agenda. They do not necessarily want juries that are ignorant about the legal process; instead they want juries that think they are informed about the legal process. The CSI effect theorizes that so much of modern television focuses on airtight evidence, that many people think that you cannot convict someone without irrefutable physical evidence connecting them with the crime. The reality is that there is not always physical evidence linking perpetrators to crime scenes.

Most people probably associate the CIS effect with the recent Casey Anthony trial. In the court of public opinion, there was little doubt that Casey Anthony was responsible for her daughter's murder. Her behavior surrounding the child's death was simply bizarre. First, she lied and said that the child had been kidnapped, and then denied knowledge of the child's location, and later the location of the body. The body was found with duct tape over the child's mouth, and a sticker on the duct tape. Furthermore, Anthony's behavior after her daughter's disappearance, during a time period in which the defense theory demonstrated that she had knowledge of her child's death, was far from what one would expect from a grieving mother. She partied continuously, got a tattoo that seemed to celebrate her newfound freedom, and engaged in erratic behavior. The general public was certain that she had committed a murder.

The problem is that there was a lack of substantive evidence linking… READ MORE

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