Criminal Justice and the TV show "CSI"

[Kimble]

A question was asked in a recent thread (http://forums.realpolice.net/showthread.php?t=46955) that comes up a LOT from students interested in CJ or newly enrolled in a CJ program:

I've been looking on the internet looking at forensic science and criminology and crime scene investigation and don't know what would be better for what I'm looking for. I also don't know what I need to do to get a job in one of these fields.

Questions about "crime scene investigation" and "forensic science" seem to come up a lot from students who regularly watch shows on TV like CSI, Forensic Files, and other related programs on CourtTV and other networks. There are also some common misconceptions made because of these shows (particularly the fictional ones like the 7,000 versions of CSI), so I thought it may be useful to dispell some of these misconceptions for CJ students.

Crime Scene Investigation: On TV, shows like CSI show investigators who go to the crime scene, retrieve evidence, do scientific tests to analyze the evidence and then investigate the crime and witnesses further to get the "bad guy." In large, this is not how it happens in reality. In real life, the evidence RETRIEVAL is generally done by evidence technicians or crime scene technicians. This may be a sworn or non-sworn position, but these individuals only retrieve the evidence at the scene, and perhaps do some initial tests. Once the evidence is collected, they send it off to the local/state (or federal if need be) crime lab for further testing.

The more complex testing is done by forensic scientists. These are actual scientists at the crime lab. In the state of Alabama, the state Department of Forensic Sciences has Forensic Scientists (click here for more info) who ARE POST-certified law enforcement officers (i.e. can make arrests), but this seems to be rarity (most are non-sworn scientists). They do not, however, do the investigative process, as this is done by the detectives and criminal investigators at state, local and federal agencies. On the show CSI, the investigators are shown as being the (1) evidence technician (or retriever), (2) the forensic scientist, and (3) the detective/investigator, and I've yet to see an agency that has a position that fills all three of these roles (although there are some positions that help out with some of the three, none that I've seen do all three on a regular basis). The reason being is that each position requires VERY DIFFERENT training/education.

A degree in Criminal Justice could certainly help someone become a police officer (and thus later on a detective/investigator), but would be useless for a forensic scientist. A forensic scientist will have a degree (and often an advanced degree or doctorate) in Chemistry, Biology, Forensic Science, Pharmacology or other related natural science fields. A degree in Crime Scene Investigation/Technician may be helpful to become an evidence technician if it teaches the proper techniques to retrieve crime scene evidence. However, one must remember that if an evidence technician is a sworn position for a department, the individual filling the position must be a uniformed officer first.

So, the moral of the story is twofold: (1) realize that what you see depicted on TV may be VERY different from reality (I mean seriously... like a DNA test can be given to a crime lab and returned in time for investigators to solve the case in a one-hour window :rolleyes: ), and thus additional research on your part as to what is ACTUALLY available in the career field is often needed, and (2) while certainly a part of the criminal justice system, forensic science is still a field of SCIENCE consisting of scientists, not investigators.

Hope this helps.

[Jynkxxie]

Thank you!

Would just like to add, that anyone who is interested in going into forensics, might want to check the job front first. It sounds like a great career, until you find out that there are not as many slots as there are applicants.

[Bryan]

I really like when they walk through and collect evidence without a bunny suit on....

[Kimble]

I really like when they walk through and collect evidence without a bunny suit on....

Like I said, bro, what you see on TV is often far from what actually takes place in the real world. I've even heard of trials where juries demand to see DNA evidence in cases where it would be totally irrelevant, simply because of the term becoming a household name due to shows like CSI. :rolleyes:

[Creeker]

Like I said, bro, ...

Green coming for this thread.

The only thing I could possibly ad is that another thing missing from the show is the "Infinite D's":

Document, Document, Document, Document, Document, Docu...

I really like when they walk through and collect evidence without a bunny suit on...

We hardly ever wore bunny suits. When your temps are hovering in the mid 80's in March with 90% humidity, you tend to only wear them when absolutely necessary. We went thru a slew of booties and gloves, though. The hazmat bunny suits we saved for Autopsy.

[taylor775]

Like I said, bro, what you see on TV is often far from what actually takes place in the real world. I've even heard of trials where juries demand to see DNA evidence in cases where it would be totally irrelevant, simply because of the term becoming a household name due to shows like CSI. :rolleyes:

Something similar happend to one of my fellow brothers at work. A citizen complained to the watch commander because the officer didnt take good prints from a burglary from motor vehicle. The citizen complained that "thats not how they do it on CSI".

Long story made short, the dept took the complaint but eventually it didnt go nowhere.

Very dumb!

[Creeker]

This should be a sticky

[Kimble]

This should be a sticky

You'll have to talk to the Mods about that, Creeker. ;)

[Jynkxxie]

You'll have to talk to the Mods about that, Creeker. ;)

LOL Done.

[Jynkxxie]

Here is something that I looked at today. It is from mlo-online.com. The article is called, "Beyond CSI: careers in forensic science". If you cannot get the link to load, the article can be seen from the front page. It is towards the bottom. Just thought I would add.

http://www.mlo-online.com/articles/0...6education.pdf

[Nole795]

Good post Ros

[Ryanh1985]

good post. i was biology major with forensics. till i found out a masters or a PHD was needed.

[Mike Romeo]

Great post. Should help answer the "murder case solved in an hour" questions.

[Fury]

I had a friend complain to me that her car was broken into. She said that the police officers were just lazy...and they didn't even dust for fingerprints. :rolleyes: I love CSI, but what everyone must realise, is that it is just hollywood. It's like wanting to be a cop because of COPS.

[michellem1]

I would like to know what kind of jobs you CAN get with a criminal justice degree? The criminal justice system has always sparked my interest, so I'm looking into going through the Univ Of Phoenix Online due to the fact that I'm a stay @ home mom and that is my best option right now, is to get my degree online(for specific family related reasons). I'm not really interested in becoming a police officer, so I would like to know what other jobs I could get with a cj degree?