2008 Woodie Awards
Not what you think
Real life CSI differs from what is depicted on TV
Jason Hamilton
Issue date: 3/23/06 Section: Features
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A lot of television crime dramas stretch the truth about the criminal investigation process.
So how much reality can be found in the Emmy-award winning show, "CSI"? Enough to make Central criminologist watch them regularly, but he said the shows are not always factual.
"I watch 'CSI' every chance I get, often catching reruns on cable," said Roger Pennel, criminal justice professor.
The show involves three different aspects of crime scene investigation: crime scene investigators, crime lab personnel and the actual investigators. Pennel said the most unrealistic part of the show is when you see individuals performing all three of these tasks. In real life, the tasks are separate and distinct. It's more of a team effort than a one-man show.
"The TV show leads people to believe that the job is not technical," said Anna Oller associate professor of biology. "So when people investigate becoming a forensic scientist, they are often surprised by the number of science courses, like biology and chemistry, that are required."
Forensic scientists are the ones who perform the tests on the evidence brought in by the detectives. The scientists have specialties in real life, like ballistics, DNA fingerprinting and toxicology. There are usually teams of scientists, not just a couple of people, Pennel said.
Real crime scene investigation work is done with a variety of agencies, not just a police agency. If the police agency is small, it probably doesn't have a crime lab. If a smaller agency happens to need a lab, it can send its work to another agency to have the work done. In Missouri, the state highway patrol labs do some of this work for local police agencies.
According to Pennel, crime scene technicians are rarely called out to the scene of a crime. The investigators normally gather all of the information, then bring it back to the lab for further investigation. Some serious crimes, like murders, sometimes require the technicians to be at the scene of the crime for processing evidence.
So how much reality can be found in the Emmy-award winning show, "CSI"? Enough to make Central criminologist watch them regularly, but he said the shows are not always factual.
"I watch 'CSI' every chance I get, often catching reruns on cable," said Roger Pennel, criminal justice professor.
The show involves three different aspects of crime scene investigation: crime scene investigators, crime lab personnel and the actual investigators. Pennel said the most unrealistic part of the show is when you see individuals performing all three of these tasks. In real life, the tasks are separate and distinct. It's more of a team effort than a one-man show.
"The TV show leads people to believe that the job is not technical," said Anna Oller associate professor of biology. "So when people investigate becoming a forensic scientist, they are often surprised by the number of science courses, like biology and chemistry, that are required."
Forensic scientists are the ones who perform the tests on the evidence brought in by the detectives. The scientists have specialties in real life, like ballistics, DNA fingerprinting and toxicology. There are usually teams of scientists, not just a couple of people, Pennel said.
Real crime scene investigation work is done with a variety of agencies, not just a police agency. If the police agency is small, it probably doesn't have a crime lab. If a smaller agency happens to need a lab, it can send its work to another agency to have the work done. In Missouri, the state highway patrol labs do some of this work for local police agencies.
According to Pennel, crime scene technicians are rarely called out to the scene of a crime. The investigators normally gather all of the information, then bring it back to the lab for further investigation. Some serious crimes, like murders, sometimes require the technicians to be at the scene of the crime for processing evidence.