Does watching CSI impact on jurors verdicts?
Academics believe that watching CSI-style TV shows about forensic science could impact on the verdicts jurors come to in court cases.
Researchers will now investigate how accurate people's perceptions about forensic science are, where these beliefs come from, and how this forensic awareness may impact on jury decision making.
They will assess whether the jury system in the UK is influenced by the type of forensic-related programming potential jurors are exposed to, or whether their knowledge and understanding of forensic science through news media.
If they keep humming songs by 'The Who' and ask why our forensic witnesses are not wearing sunglasses it is a fair assumption to assume they are influenced by CSI.
Lisa Smith, from the Forensic Section of the University of Leicester said: "The increased attention given to forensic science in both the news and fictional media has raised awareness of these techniques in the general public.
"The aim of this research is to understand how potential jurors perceive and understand various forensic science techniques, in order to determine how their attitudes and expectations may impact on their decision making in a courtroom setting."
"Forensic science is featured quite heavily in television programming and news media coverage, and this raises the public interest in forensic techniques.
"An important aspect of jury decision making is a juror's prior beliefs and knowledge, and this study aims to investigate how potential jurors' perceptions of forensic science impacts on their ability to evaluate different types of evidence.
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Come on, if the people aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty I wouldn't worry about them learning forensics from tv.