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Sunday, August 22, 2004

Law - Stories about the TV/Reality Overlap

"TV's 'reality' becomes real problem in courtroom" is the headline of this story that ran August 15th in the Evansville Courier&Press. It talks about the expectations the TV show, CSI, implants in the minds of real jurors. A quote:

As it happens, not every maggot-covered crime is solved with DNA analysis, mass spectrometers and chemical tests that cause invisible traces of blood or semen to emit an eerie blue glow. What real-life prosecutors are stuck with, then, is having to explain to a jury pool about why such tests weren't done, or couldn't be done, in their investigations.
On the same day, the Munster Times ran this story, headlined "Legal dramas relate to real life." Here is a quote in the story from Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter:
"One thing I find to be real true is the dialogue between police and prosecutors," he said. "That is so true. In every case, there is a question of whether the defendant is willing to accept these terms. That part is very realistic."

Ever wonder how true to life "Law and Order" and TV's other legal dramas are? Do cops and trial lawyers watch the shows? How do they measure up with real life? Carter says you'd be surprised. "Law and Order," in particular, is very popular with prosecutors.

"I talked to many of my peers and they watch it, too," he said. "You think they would get tired of it after dealing with it every day. But for me, it's one of my favorite programs."

Based on his experience in Lake County, the investigative parts of the show are accurate, Carter said. The main difference is the show's creators must condense their cases to fit into a one-hour TV show. "The version you get on TV is not as thorough," Carter said. "It's more or so cleansed, if you will, than in real life. But they take real-life situations and develop them for presentation. They do a real good job, in my opinion."

I can vouch for the fact that Indianapolis prosecutors are also Law & Order fans.

The Denver Post today has an editorial expressing mild concern about the ABC show, "In the Jury Room":

The seven-part documentary, which began airing this month, takes viewers where cameras have never been before - into the jury room. * * *

It's gripping television, yes, but could it damage or distort the justice system? * * *

ABC received special permission from Colorado's Supreme Court, along with Arizona's and Ohio's, to send cameras into jury rooms.

Prosecutor Helen Morgan, who was featured in last week's installment on Trujillo, says the cases her department agreed to have taped were so serious that jurors easily forgot they were being watched by cameras. A routine DUI case may have been different, she suggests.

"The facts of the case are so compelling I really don't think any juror after 10 or 15 minutes into opening statements remembered the cameras were there," she said. "When you're talking about the death of a 2-year-old child, I don't think there's anyone there who won't do what their heart and head tells them."

The ABC "In the Jury Room" site includes materials such as: Jury Instructions; Sentencing Phase Instructions; Transcript: Jury Deliberations; and Transcript: Jury Deliberations During Penalty Phase. Here is a review of the first show from Slate, headlined "ABC's fascinating In the Jury Room deglamorizes the legal process."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 22, 2004 06:14 PM
Posted to General Law Related