Everyone knows that criminal justice a hugely popular topic on TV. In fact, most people know more about the criminal justice system from watching crime related TV shows than they do from learning about it at school. Out of curiosity, I decided to do a little research to find out just how popular criminal justice and law TV shows really are. The answer? Hugely popular.
Tv.com lists the top 100 most popular action/drama/suspense television shows of all time. I was not surprised to see that out of the top 10 ten shows, 7 are related to criminal justice!
Prison break comes in as number one. Although it’s no longer on the air, Prison Break averaged around 7.9 million viewers per episode. Coming in after Prison Break are NCIS, CSI, 24, Bones, CSI: NY, and Criminal Minds. We also can’t forget Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Dexter, Without a Trace, and Cold Case following shortly behind. No one can deny the popularity of criminal justice television.
Despite all of the hype around these shows, have criminal justice television shows given us a false perception of the American Criminal Justice system? Are they popular because they give us a clear look into the world of criminal justice, or do we tune in each week for the drama, glamour, and suspense?
Many people argue that criminal justice themed television shows do not give viewers a realistic perception of criminal justice related professions. In a study conducted at Purdue University, it was concluded that people who watch forensic and crime dramas on TV are more likely than non-viewers to have a distorted perception of America’s criminal justice system. For example, solving crimes in the real world is not always as cut and dry as it is depicted on TV. The time it takes to solve a crime and the ease in which investigators are able to find evidence are commonly miscommunicated to viewers. Shows also tend to give viewers a false perception of the frequency of serious crimes. Fortunately, the types of crime show on TV are much less frequent in the real world.
Although crime television shows do not always portray the criminal justice system accurately, they have brought a lot of interest to criminal justice professions. In fact, many of these shows have inspired people across the country to pursue a career in criminal justice. While this is great, perhaps it would be a good idea to see what careers in criminal justice are all about in the real world before you decide to dive right in. While real life crime scene investigators do share some similarities with Dr. Grissom and Catherine Willows of CSI, you really can’t expect to see quite as much glamour as a CSI in reality.
