CSI is a hit along with its spin offs CSI: Miami and CSI: New York, but that successful formula of mixing drama with high tech crime fighting creates a problem for real life prosecutors. Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls says jurors may have no experience with the criminal justice system other than what they see on television. That can lead to unrealistic expectations about how a real prosecution proceeds.
"We have talked to juries after trials before and found that TV and movies have an effect on what they expect to see in the courtroom. The issue is making sure that a jury can separate fact from fiction," said Brandon Falls, District Attorney for Jefferson County. "The effect, and it's is often called the CSI effect, has been discussed widely throughout the country by prosecutors."
No matter how devious and complex a television crime might be, the characters on CSI make it look easy to connect the dots with high tech tools and bring the perpetrators to justice.
After thirty-one years of experience, Hoover Police Captain Jim Coker can safely say crime scene investigation techniques and technology have come a long way.
"When I first started, you would basically go out and throw fingerprint powder around and see what you could find. Today it is much more advanced. Technology is really taking a big hold on the entire field of crime scene investigation," said Capt. Coker.
In Alabama if you go to state prison they take a DNA sample. That way when police collect a sample at a crime scene it can be checked against the state database. When it comes to fingerprint evidence collected at a crime scene, Hoover has an AFIS terminal which is a direct pipeline to the state fingerprint database. Captain Coker says Birmingham and Jefferson County also have AFIS terminals, but smaller agencies often have to submit the fingerprints they recover at a crime scene to the ABI to check them against the state database.
The AFIS system reduces the amount of time to make a latent print match, but Captain Coker says some of the devices featured in CSI are pure fantasy.
"We don't have any 3D hologram scanners, that's TV," said Capt. Coker.
District Attorney Brandon Falls says jurors who expect to see high tech proof can be reluctant to convict without it, which can turn an otherwise successful prosecution into an acquittal.
"Even though there might be a confession in the case. They still might want to see someone from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences come in and talk about a search for DNA evidence," said Brandon Falls, District Attorney for Jefferson County.
Another big difference between CSI and real investigations is how quickly they unfold.
Especially when it comes to expert testimony.
Captain Coker is one of only a half dozen senior crime scene analysts in the state. He says the certification tests require a great deal of study and training.
You've got to have at least six years of experience before you can even apply to take the test, according to Coker.
"Say we have a death investigation, a homicide anywhere in the State of Alabama, that kind of case will not be rushed," said Captain Coker.
Laurence Fishburne and David Caruso are excellent actors. Perhaps they are too convincing, because now real police and prosecutors face a new complication. They are challenged with making sure scripted crime dramas meant to entertain don't influence real verdicts.
