Forensic Evidence Essay

In order to understand how to compile evidence for criminal cases, we must understand the most effective types of evidence. This topic is interesting because there are ample amounts of cases where defendants have gotten off because of the lack of forensic evidence. If we believe forensic evidence is so important and it affects our decisions, then maybe we need to be educated on the reality of forensic evidence. If we can be educated, then we may have a more successful justice system. If we have a more successful justice system than the public could gain more confidence that justice will be served. In order to do this, we must find what type of evidence is most effective, this can be done by examining different types of evidence.
One type of

For this study forensic evidence can be considered DNA evidence and/or trace evidence of any kind, included to but not limited to tire tracks, bullet casings, glass shards, fingerprints, and hair samples. Although this study proposes the idea that forensic evidence is more important it currently is not used frequently in the justice system. A study found that out of the cases they examined forensic evidence was collected in 37% of cases but only 18% of those cases were examined (Peterson, Hickman, Strom, Johnson, 2013). Another study found that 38% of participants said forensic evidence was hard to come by while 62% said they had spent time on victim credibility (Menaker, Campbell, Wells, 2016). This shows us that forensic evidence is not used frequently, and more time is spent on making a victim credible instead of finding evidence. It is the purpose of this study to determine if forensic evidence is more important than circumstantial evidence and eye witness testimony. If this can be determined than less time can be spent on things like victim credibility for testimonies, and more time can be spent on analyzing forensic

The CSI Effect is the idea that criminal shows and movies give viewers an inaccurate representation of forensic evidence and how it is used. If the CSI Effect is a confounding variable in this study, we can control for it by not letting the participants know the true meaning of the study until debriefing. It has also been found that not every crime drama talks about forensic evidence (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, Rader, 2017). If not every crime drama talks about forensic evidence there is a chance that the drama the participants may watch does not talk about forensic evidence. If the participant watches a crime show that is about the FBI than they are less likely to have seen forensic evidence in that show (Rhineberger-Dunn, Briggs, Rader, 2017). This also helps control this confound. Though the CSI Effect and some of these studies are not directly related to the study being proposed, they do explore the various types of evidence that can be used in criminal cases. They also explore topics related to forensic evidence and their uses in popular social media outlets, because of this they are worth