CSI-Generation Juries
Timothy M. Palmbach · Digital Commons - New Heaven (University of New Haven) · 2006
This chapter compares the investigative and courtroom techniques of yesterday with today’s. On television and in books and movies, where it is as simple as solving a case with a solution predetermined by the author, the change in method doesn’t matter. In reality, where the expectations, perceptions, and opinions of the jury interact with a complicated legal system and highly technical scientific procedures, a verdict is not so easily reached. Thus, the dramatic changes in how we get a conviction today versus fifty years ago have more to do with the process, or what we expect in the way of proof. Many factors underlie these differences, but this discussion will address two key issues: the integration of new technologies in the war on crime, and public perceptions, expectations, and bias in response to a shift away from more traditional investigative techniques to those based in science and technology.