Is CSI Really to Blame? The Influence of Personal Traits in Influencing Potential Juror Verdicts

• In Event: Nontradition Look at Traditional Forms of Injustice

Abstract

The CSI Effect proposes that fictional crime dramas are adversely affecting the judicial system by distorting potential jurors’ expectations for forensic evidence. Though anecdotal accounts of the effect are easy to find, existing research has failed to produce robust evidence for its actual existence. While crime dramas may be impacting juror perceptions, the current knowledge base does not fully examine the confluence of other participant characteristics beyond television viewing habits in affecting juror expectations and verdicts. The current study uses additive scales to gauge participants’ level of experience with the criminal justice system, general media exposure, and acceptance of punitive criminal justice policies. Logistic regression is used to examine whether these variables contribute to variation in expectations for the presence of forensic evidence, perceptions of reliability of forensic techniques, and verdicts in hypothetical scenarios above and beyond exposure to fictional crime dramas. Specifically, we examine whether a more punitive crime control orientation may increase expectations, reliability assumptions, and guilty verdicts, while a higher degree of media exposure and criminal justice experience may moderate these effects.

Authors

• Carrie Trojan, Western Kentucky University

• James Kanan, Western Kentucky University

• Chasity Danielle Beckner, Western Kentucky University