By Paul D. Rosevear

There's no doubt about it: Between "CSI's" contagiously spreading viewership, similar spin-offs ruling the remote, and exploding enrollments in forensics programs at many colleges and universities, the current crop of on-screen case-crackers are certainly proving inspiring. The field of forensics is certainly entertaining a multitude of people - 50 million each week, to be exact.

But is the line between entertainment and education getting blurred? Read on to explore the difference between forensics and faux-rensics...

The Prosecution
In light of the public's rabid appetite for "CSI" and programs like it, experts have mixed feelings on the impact the show's popularity is having.

"'CSI' is getting more people interested in the science, which is fantastic," explains Dr. Jennifer Thompson, program director of multidisciplinary studies at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), which offers a forensic science degree program. "The shows themselves are idealized versions of the field. They've got wonderful technology that just isn't available in real life, and everything gets solved in a neat and tidy hour!"

In fact, one of the professors teaching in UNLV's program is Daniel Holstein - the real-life inspiration for Gil Grissom, "CSI's" leading character.

If it seems like each episode's investigators spending time collecting data at crime scenes, conducting tests and experiments at laboratories, reviewing evidence at police departments, and questioning suspects is too good to be true, it's because it is. In reality, there are highly trained specialists who do each of these tasks separately, and case resolution is anything from TV-perfect.

Data analysis often takes weeks and months. "It's the speed and the specificity more than anything," says Dr. Stephen Theberge, assistant professor of chemistry at Merrimack College (North Andover, MA). Theberge teaches a forensic analysis course and offers a forensics concentration for chemistry majors.

"You don't just stick something into a machine and immediately find out it's got Maybelline lipstick on it, color 42. It's just not that easy," he says. Characters on forensic TV shows often possess the skills of many different kinds of specialists - it's much more exciting to see the countless aspects of the field crammed into one supercharged investigator. "The investigator position on TV is an amalgam of a police officer/detective and lab scientist. In reality, this position doesn't exist."

The Defense
Though some of the miraculous tactics and technologies used to solve crimes on TV and in movies don't really exist, you'd probably be surprised to find out just how many of them actually do. This coming fall, James Lucas, adjunct faculty member at Oakton Community College (Des Plaines, IL), will be teaching law enforcement students about the equipment used by the FBI and other crime-solving institutions.

"We are the first college-level forensics course in the U.S. to feature instruction using the Intergraph Video Analyst System," he says. This system utilizes NASA-developed VISAR (Video Stabilization and Registration) technology to examine video. "Very often, it's never more than a tattoo, or a kind of sneaker, that is needed to identify a criminal from video footage," he explains, so in that sense, there is some truth to TV plots. "This was the same technology that was able to identify the Rider truck used in the Oklahoma bombing."

Like Thompson and Theberge, Lucas acknowledges that TV's depiction of the ease with which forensic technologies can yield results is usually exaggerated - but that plenty of amazing gadgetry does exist. "In addition to the video system, we'll teach students something called Faces 1.0, a program that creates composite facial drawings," he says. "The full-fledged police version has 2,000 extra choices for eyes, features, aging, and more." Another device Lucas mentions is AFIX 5.0, a desktop automatic fingerprint and palm print comparison system - something many Hollywood criminal justice fans are familiar with from movies.

What's The Big Deal?
At the end of the day, is it really going to kill anyone (no pun intended) if shows like "CSI" project an embellished version of forensics work in the name of entertainment? Probably not. But the public's growing awareness is indeed making its way into the courtroom.

"Nowadays, juries expect to see amazing forensic stuff," says Melissa Connor, adjunct forensic science professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University. "They've seen all of the expensive techniques and they want to be wowed."

For the forensic enthusiast who wants a more accurate look into crime solving, there are some shows that are more fact than fiction. "When I started 'Forensic Files,' over 10 years ago, it was because of what I saw going on in the OJ Simpson trial," explains the show's executive producer and creator Paul Dowling. Each episode, the show reviews real-life cases and the techniques used to solve them. "My perception was that we had a bunch of jurors who were asked to try to understand very complicated genetic science and DNA.

I wanted to show people what can be done with forensic science, as well as what can't be done."

A Real-Life Look
While the forensics you see on television may be enhanced to keep things action-packed, there is plenty of real-life action happening every single day. Jessica Mondero, a recent graduate of the master's program in forensic science at Nebraska Wesleyan University, was called out to Iraq as part of a team her professor, Melissa Connor, assembled to exhume and analyze human remains from mass graves.

The evidence culled will most likely be used in Saddam Hussein's trial. Talk about real-world application!

"I was there for three months while I was finishing my degree," she explains. "There was a little hesitation on my part to go over there - just because you know it's not a peaceful place. But the fact that there is a United States military presence over there made me feel more secure."

Mondero, Connor, and the rest of their team set up camp right outside the grave sites, along with roughly 30 other specialists from the U.S. Iraqi forensics workers were also present, learning techniques from the U.S. team so they could continue the work after the American workers' stay.

"I worked in the morgue, which was located inside of a U.S. camp," explains Mondero. "I analyzed artifacts that were recovered with the bodies in the grave. It was my job to go through clothing, jewelry, IDs, blindfolds, gags, ligatures - anything that didn't deal with the bone."

Though Mondero didn't deal with bones, her experience may be considered bone chilling by many.

"It takes a certain personality to be in this field," she admits. "But I really enjoy problem solving and investigative work. A lot of what we'd do in the master's program would be via e-mail or the Internet, but the most exhilarating stuff was hands-on. I love to piece together the story of how something actually happened."

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