The C.S.I. Effect

By Katherine Ramsland

Book Overview

How do investigators get from crime to conviction? For the astonishing answer, Ramsland covers the latest cutting-edge techniques in crime scene investigation. Inspired by episodes from the fact-based C.S.I. television franchise, she illustrates the use of computers and toxicology in forensics, explores interrogation strategies, and revisits history's most notorious crimes. And in considering the shows' locales - Las Vegas, New York, and Miami - Ramsland divulges ways in which crimes are dependent on location, climate, and population and discloses ways of solving them in the twenty-first century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425211592
• ISBN13: 9780425211595
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Berkley / Nal
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Author of Practical Homicide Investigation

Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Ph. D. has authored an excellent treatise on the subject of The C.S.I. Effect Ramsland described the C.S.I. Effect as " The influence of popular crime shows on the culture, specifically with regard to possibly miseducating viewers who are potential jurors." Ramsland examines the consequences of a proliferation of forensic television programs and their effect on someone's perception of forensic science and the police investigative process. She covers the simulation and enhancement aspects of the CSI shows as well as computer forensics and digital data. Her chapters on forensic art, virtual autopsy and toxicology as well as DNA and court process along with specific cases illustrate the influence that forensic shows can have on the average person. The chapter on Psycho-logic, which demystifies the science of profiling and how the courts deal with this behavioral evidence, are explained using a case history format. Deviance and psychological oddities seem to catch the interest of the viewing public, and the forensic shows go out of their way to include such programming in their productions In The C.S.I. Effect, Ramsland presents a number of real-life cases, which were used in various forensic television programs. Of course in the television presentations of these real-life cases, the evidence is always discovered and the science is remarkably accurate. Ramsland summed it up as follows, "Thanks to these programs people on juries believe they know all about forensic science and investigation. They're wrong, but they don't know that, and their errors can impact the outcome of a case"