CSI Effects on Jury Reasoning and Verdicts

Abstract

In the high-stakes context of a simulated terrorist trial, results from two independent samples of Australian community members revealed that the expectations and responses to key forensic scientific evidence by frequent CSI viewers differed from those of their counterparts who were infrequent or non-CSI viewers. For the first time, the mechanism of the CSI effect was linked to an immersive virtual crime scene animation. Mockjurors with more elevated expectations about forensic scientific evidence placed more trust in this evidence, were more persuaded of its value or scrutinised its content less thoroughly than those who did not share these expectations. As a result, they were more prone to give undue weight to forensic scientific evidence admitted by the prosecution, and more prone to convict. This CSI effect was driven more by mock jurors’ expectations about forensic scientific evidence than by how often they watched CSI-type programs.