As you may recall, last July’s arrest of Professor Gates by Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department made news headlines and resulted in a heated debate about “the ways in which issues of race, class, power, authority, and respect intersect with the everyday operations of the police.” (Report, p. 13)

Today’s Boston Globe discusses the report on Gates’ arrest and mentions how the report found both parties “at blame” for the incident and its aftermath.  The report of the Cambridge Review Committee on the Gates’ arrest may be found in the City of Cambridge Police Department website.

Could shows like CSI actually affect the functioning of the criminal justice system?

The Economist’s recent article The “CSI effect” says yes.  This article cites the paper Crime scene investigation (as seen on TV) by Evan W. Durnal, which discusses just how shows like CSI, NCIS, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan and other scientifically-based crime shows can affect the behavior of jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, criminals, and law enforcement.  The exposure to so many fictitious easily solved crimes may give jurors unrealistic expectations of forensic science’s ability to solve crimes and may give criminals the insight to avoid leaving some types of evidence behind.