Around 50 million people tune in to watch every episode, during which time they will see quite complex cases cracked in around 45 minutes of viewing time.

Have the constraints of television scheduling led to a blurring between fact and fiction, or does entertainment value forgive all misrepresentations?

The Prosecution

Forensic experts have mixed emotions when it comes to programmes such as CSI and it’s various spin-offs.

“‘CSI’ is getting more people interested in the science, which is fantastic,” explains Dr. Jennifer Thompson, program director of multidisciplinary studies at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), which offers a forensic science degree program. “The shows themselves are idealized versions of the field. They’ve got wonderful technology that just isn’t available in real life, and everything gets solved in a neat and tidy hour!”

Incidentally, one of the professors teaching in UNLV’s program is one Daniel Holstein, reputedly the the real-life inspiration for Gil Grissom, the lead character in the original CSI series.

CSI portrays multi-talented forensic investigators who attend crime scenes, question suspects, work in laborotories and much more besides.

The reality is that forensic science is an extremely involved discipline which relies on many individuals and their own specialisms in order to reach conclusions via teamwork.

Analysing clues and data is often a slow and laborious task, taking days, weeks or even months. Multi-talented forensic field agents simply do not exist and no murder or other serious crime could be solved in under an hour!

The Defense

Though it should be obvious to most people that a large proportion of the technology seen in such shows is ’made for tv’, there are also elements that are actually quite real and used by true forensic scientists in their work.

For instance, the Intergraph Video Analyst System utilises NASA-developed VISAR (Video Stabilization and Registration) technology in order to examine video footage. This system enables frame by frame analysis of the tiniest detail, such as the pattern on a suspect’s shoe which may be all that is required to identify a potential perpetrator.

Then there is AFIX 5.0 which is a desktop automatic fingerprint and palm print comparison system. Such a device will be well known to those viewers who follow crime and detective style shows.

Conclusion

Sure, CSI takes a very simplified look at the world of forensics and it’s application to solving crime. That’s because it has to, both to be entertaining and also to fit within the constraints of television programming.

It may be misleading towards anyone thinking of beginning a career in forensics, however, it has certainly increased the awareness of such a discipline to the point where many more people are curious as to what it is all about, if nothing else.

What are your views on the CSI show?