Examining the ‘CSI effect’ through an ANT lens

Abstract

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is part of a new generation of police drama where science and technology play a central role in catching criminals. Though very few would mistake it for educational programming, the show appears to be infl uencing how its audience comes to think about forensics. Dubbed the ‘CSI effect’, the show is said to be giving viewers the impression that the use of forensics in criminal investigations is not only common, but is quick, easy, and without budgetary constraints. Whether it is the rising number of ‘science-savvy’ jurors or the growing workload for crime labs, the current fl urry of media coverage appears focused on the effects that CSI is having in various areas of criminal justice. Because of the supposed impact on the judicial system, a common reaction among legal commentators is to try to separate fact from fi ction by pointing out examples where these portrayals of forensics are somehow inaccurate, grossly oversimplifi ed or highly implausible. However, for socio-legal researchers interested in studying the representations of forensics in popular culture, it may be unwise to become overly preoccupied with highlighting what is not ‘real’ on CSI and dismissing these depictions as ‘make believe’. Rather than bracketing fact from fi ction, we need to embrace ‘complexity’ (see Law and Mol, 2002) and concentrate on the interaction between what is presented on TV and what we often describe as the ‘real world’ of forensics and criminal justice. In order to do this, it may be useful to draw on the theoretical and methodological insights from the fi eld of Science and Technology Studies (S&TS) and the specifi c branch of research known as Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Like other branches of S&TS, ANT theorists look at how social and human elements are implicated in the production of scientifi c facts and technological artefacts. ANT considers the ways in which ideas and things are produced through a ‘network’ of heterogeneous ‘actors’. This focus on the processes of ‘translation’ allows ANT theorists to consider the existence of hybrids and, as such, avoids what Latour (1993) describes as the modern project of ‘purifi cation’ with the ontological divisions that are created between ‘nature and society’ or ‘human and non-human’. This Research Note adopts a similar approach to the study of forensic science and technology in order to illustrate the ‘messiness’ of hybridity and the many connections between the TV depictions of forensics and their ‘real world’ counterparts. Using ANT to