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Comment by assimpleaspossi

21 hours ago

Are we really going to go to a fictional TV show now?

It affects the jury. If the jury watches tv shows that builds the expectation that there is always a bunch of ballistics evidence etc and that it is always fool proof then they will 1) distrust when there isn’t that type of evidence (but enough other evidence) and 2) they will overvalue the evidence when it exists

  • It affects everybody. I've heard of people arrested in rather more oppressive regimes expecting to be Miranda'd because it's what they know from American cop shows and they thought it was broadly applicable everywhere.

If a fictional-but-popular TV show treats some kinds of evidence as more reliable than they really are, juries may be primed to believe in the kind of thing the TV show presents as legitimate.

There is a reason such shows are labeled "copaganda" - it affect people's perception of police and their procedures. It makes the dubious seem less dubious and more believable. I very highly doubt any jury is made aware of the rate of error or unreliability of the this stuff.

“Lots of forensics is much more dubious than CSI would have you believe.” was what was being replied to.