This Strange Effect

Writing in bOING bOING, Andrew Zolli says that cop shows "are having an unexpected impact in the real world: the public thinks every crime can be solved, and solved now—just like on television. That bogus expectation is having a real effect on the criminal justice system, changing the way prosecutors and defendants try their cases. It's called the CSI effect, a phenomenon in which actual investigations are driven by the expectations of the millions of people who watch fake cop and courtroom dramas."