Imagine this: a body is found decomposing in an abandoned house miles away from the nearest town. A forensic team rushes there and collects samples from every single square inch of the house to try to find a clue as to who committed this atrocity. From the wounds on the body it can be seen that the victim was stabbed repeatedly even if there were no traces of blood left. It appears the killer cleaned the entire floor with bleach and thoroughly cleaned the interior. In a desperate attempt, the forensic team searches outside and finds a perfect shoe print in the mud. A few meters away there is a small blood stain on a wooden pole. Filled with new hope of solving the crime, the forensics team examines the house one last time and finds a partial fingerprint on a window. The evidence is collected and stored properly, and then the forensics team sends it to the laboratory to be studied and wait. . A few hours later, the results arrived and indicate a certain match in the list of suspects. The blood sample matched the person identified by the fingerprint. The correct suspect is interrogated and within “days” is found guilty and sentenced. Finally justice is served and everyone lives happily ever after, all in the space of half an hour. Does it seem realistic? Not exactly. Enter CSI.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a popular television show focusing on crime and forensics. Its use of “realistic” crime scenarios and trials combined with melodrama and recognizable protagonists have made it an audience favourite, demonstrated by its success over the years since it first premiered in 2000. With over 10 million viewers on average around the world every evening, CSI has been named the T...... half of the most viewed document ......even the time it takes to process forensic evidence is affected by the CSI effect. CSI and similar shows provide unrealistic examples of how quickly forensic results are obtained. On the shows, entire cases are solved in the span of a few days, with evidence analyzed within hours of collection. In reality, evidence collection and processing are often supported for long periods of time. The average time it takes for a forensic lab to release results in the United States is 127.2 days. High-urgency tests usually take a week or two at most, and the waiting time increases in larger cities, where the backlog is greater. CSI and similar programs do not depict an accurate time period as they condense this time period to fit into a one-hour slot, so viewers tend to expect things to get done sooner than is realistic..