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CSI effect

Definition

The tendency of jurors, shaped by television forensic dramas, to have unrealistic expectations of forensic evidence quality and to either over-weight clear forensic matches or distrust cases where evidence quality is low.

Related terms

Authentication (FRE 901)
The US requirement that a party offering evidence produce sufficient proof to support a finding that the item is what they claim....
Daubert standard
The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
Expert's duty to the court
In most adversarial jurisdictions, an expert witness's primary duty is to the court, not to the party that retained them. This means...
Frye standard
The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
PACE Section 78
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 78: UK courts may exclude prosecution evidence whose admission would adversely affect the fairness of...

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