Forensics Made Famous: What Hollywood Gets Right—and Wrong—About Investigating Crimes

TV shows like CSI, Bones and Criminal Minds have gotten viewers to learn more about forensics and the justice system. In some cases, they have even inspired fans to pursue careers in law enforcement. At the same time, television’s use of dramatic license (the characters have to solve crimes within a finite window) has added considerably to the demands placed on investigators in real life.

“It’s a two-edged sword,” retired ATF Special Agent Rich Boehning told A&E Crime + Investigation. “In one respect, the public has become more aware of the forensic technologies available, but their level of expectations, particularly as jurors, has made the bar much higher.”

Fictional TV series routinely show police officers easily identifying license plates or suspects’ faces from grainy video, finding DNA to make an arrest or obtaining lab results with little turnaround time. Most episodes of Law & Order require the police to make an arrest within 22 minutes so that the second half of the show can focus on the subsequent trial. In reality, identifications rarely happen that easily, forensic evidence is not always readily obtainable, and crime labs can be backed up for anywhere from weeks to years.

Antoine Lane, whose 30 years of law enforcement experience led him to being a featured expert on the docuseries First Responders Live, tells A&E Crime + Investigation, “Television and movies sometimes glamorize forensic capabilities, which, in the end, proves to be both frustrating and fruitless to the public.”

However, Lane and Boehning concur the issue is mostly limited to scripted crime dramas. Neither named a fictional TV series that they felt accurately represented forensics, but they spoke much more highly of unscripted true crime series. Boehning explained that Forensic Files “really highlights all the different aspects of forensics, including DNA, toolmarks, latent prints, et cetera. Another great show is The First 48, which really takes a deep dive into the importance of crime scene processing, surveillance footage and good old-fashioned interviewing.”

Unscripted series Cold Justice explores different forensic avenues—from trace evidence to cell phone triangulation—while also explaining their limitations, both practically and legally.

Lane explains that viewers’ increased interest in forensics also provides more perspective on why the criminal justice system operates the way it does. “It demonstrates to the public how to expand their understanding of not just the crime, but the prosecution phase as well,” he says. “The frustration that people may feel during the punishment phase of a case, or [over] whether or not a district attorney takes the case to begin with, has to do with their lack of exposure to the entirety of the justice system.”

Lane continues, “If a 911 caller phones the police regarding a crime they witnessed, but they didn’t get a good physical description of the suspects, or they couldn’t see the license plate. they can still be of assistance in sharing their observation if they better [understand] the strengths and weaknesses of forensic evidence. Some TV shows assist with that learning.”

Boehning agrees. “As everyone becomes familiar with the technologies available, the general public knows and can pass on potential forensic-related tips to investigators,” he says. “But again, the level of expectations from those who are fixated on the fictional forensic shows, to the time and effort it takes in reality can certainly present challenges.”

Twenty-five years after its debut, CSI continues to be incredibly popular around the world, with a streaming channel devoted to 24/7 reruns of the series. Other crime dramas like Chicago P.D. and Criminal Minds are in their 13th and 18th seasons, respectively. Then there’s the ongoing rise of true crime documentary films and series. Audience members have access to more information about forensics than they ever have before and more knowledge about the different types of forensics. They are now able to look at a crime story with a more educated and detail-oriented perspective.

Dramatic TV series have increased the burden investigators have to bear, but television has also made it possible for viewers to be of greater assistance to the police and their communities. Those CSI reruns and Criminal Minds marathons are wonderful things; they just must be taken with a grain of salt.