Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect

by Dennis J. Stevens

Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect illustrates how media coverage and television programs inform the public’s perception of criminal justice. The CSI Effect can be characterized as the phenomenon whereby fiction is mistaken for reality and the assumption that all criminal cases can be solved through the employment of hi-tech forensic science such as crime scene investigation and DNA testing as depcited on television crime shows. This text provides broad, balanced, and comprehensive coverage of timely events in CSI, prosecutors, and wrongful convictions. The author explores some common misconceptions and helps readers towards a critical analysis of the information they see in the media and entertainment.

380 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2009

Reviews

[Sherri · Rating 1 out of 5]

We used this book in a class I took recently and none of us, including the professor were impressed. First, the author bends the facts of the shows he is discussing in order to fit his argument. Between us we watch enough television to have pretty much covered all of the shows he discussed and there were frequently "tweaks" to what the plot lines ACTUALLY were to make me uncomfortable with the BOOK being non-fiction. Secondly, the argument was weak. For that matter, we never were certain whether or not he was trying to actually discuss how media portrays crime (which is the stated premise of the book) or whether or not he just has some beef with prosecutors and was out to prove that they are all corrupt. Which he also fails to do very well I might add. All in all pretty lousy. Try something else and don't waste your time with this.