Community Members’ Perceptions of the CSI Effect

The CSI Effect is the notion that crime show viewing influences jurors to have unrealistic expectations of forensic evidence,
which then affects their trial decisions. Analyses of popular media shows that the media portrays the effect as a real problem,
and research surveying the legal community indicates that they believe the CSI Effect exists and may change their investigation
and trial strategies accordingly. The present study expanded on this research by surveying community members regarding their
perceptions of the CSI Effect. Community members reported their general television and crime show viewing behaviors, and we
examined this in relation to their knowledge construction of the CSI Effect. Findings indicate that overall, the majority
of community members did not have knowledge of the CSI effect, but those who did perceive it as an unrealistic expectation
of evidence. When provided with a definition of the CSI Effect, people generally believed it exists. Additionally, crime show
viewing and participant’s race influenced people’s perceptions of the CSI effect. Limitations of this study and directions
for future research are also discussed.