Personal Narrative: A Career In Criminal Investigation
When I was younger and even until now, I have always been a person who was a problem solver. I always wanted to get down to the bottom of things. I constantly watched TV and the main shows I always watched were shows like “Cops” or anything that had to do with criminal investigation. As I got older, I started to understand more things and the shows that actually grasped my attention were CSI and First 48. I love watching these shows because I can already figure out what is going to happen before the episode is already over. I put myself in the situation of the investigators in the TV shows and think of what I would actually do. My dad used to work in the department of CSI for the Texas police Department so I have some background knowledge and terminology of what is going on. I frequently asked questions and I felt like I somewhat knew the life of a crime scene investigator. They get calls in the middle of the night and they have to go out to the scene.It is a very stressful and traumitizing job.When it comes down to the two shows of First 48 and CSI, they deal with crimes that involve murders and have investigation element.
CSI …show more content…
is full of trained investigators trying to examine the evidence. They find the missing pieces that will solve the case.“A criminal investigator is a person who conducts investigations for criminal cases. This person is responsible for collecting and assessing evidence for a case to pinpoint guilty parties. If you have ever watched an episode of CSI, you have seen criminal
Basic Criminal Investigation 2
investigators in action.
The ones in the real world do roughly the same work, but they don’t always have dramatic cases to deal with.” This explains the job of a criminal investigator and the job duties will vary depending on what type of crime there is. When it comes to every crime scene, it goes through steps before it is considered solved or unsolved. If it is unsolved, they have tried numerous times to solve the case, but had no leads or no witnesses. The steps are evaluating the case,collecting the evidence,analyzing the forensics, identifying the suspect, if you have a suspect, interrogate him/her, then you bring the case to court for trial and lastly, depending on if the criminal investigators did their job right justice will be served. Most investigators want to put the suspect in jail, but that is not always the
case.
I explain the procedures and process of a crime scene investigator because this is what the the show CSI deals with.Though, CSI is not like Law and Order where they interrogate a suspect, go to trial , and show if the suspect goes to jail or not. CSI has added drama and it deals more with investigating the actual crime scene. It is a scripted TV show and you can tell some of the scenes are over dramatic and unrealistic. The episode I watched was when a woman’s throat was slit in a car on the side of the road on a highway. It is about how the team of investigators find out the woman was once a man who underwent a sex change. They investigate and go out figuring out the life of transgenders. The way they showed reconstruction of the crime scene is how they would picture the crime in their head. They focused on the evidence in the car and they
Basic Criminal Investigation 3
tried to find the fabrics in the car if there was any evidence left behind. They find out who the suspect is, but they do not let the viewers know what happens to the suspect. They have the viewer assume. When they show how the evidence is transferred on to a body part, that is when dramatization and special effects come into play. They show the victim in the crime lab, and they investigate the possibilities of what may have happened. This episode was more realistic because they found the killer in a reasonable time because the suspect confessed. Usually, they would find out the suspect in the same amount of time, but it was unrealistic.CSI makes up more their unrealistic scenes by doing what actual Crime scene investigators do.
Watching an Episode of the First 48, this episode was on 9/7/12 and it was about a scene that occurred in Dallas Texas and two friends were walking in the woods and discover a dead body.It was near the rail road tracks and they call the police. It was during May 5th. The body was burned and it had no arms. It is missing the head and hands.The criminal investigator has experience of 19 years. First 48 is based on real life situations and and it is filmed on site, This show focuses more on catching the criminal and investigating what happened within the first 48 hours.This is more realistic because the time frame is actually a real scenario. There is no dramatization to it. This is actual real life homicides that happen in different cities. The investigators actually use forensic evidence, and witnesses to find the suspect. Though only says 48 hours, it goes on more than that and could even lead into years.The investigate the body and
Basic Criminal Investigation 4
they actually go into the scene.They did not show any crime lab or any special investigating on the body. They focused on more investigating the case and how it happened.
Watching both shows there are definitely more differences than there are similarities. When it comes to CSI, they find the body to open up the show rather than a witness calling the police. Once they find the body, they automatically observe the scene and then they take the body to the forensic lab.They actually take the time to observe the body and find out possibilities and theories of what could have happened in the lab. That is how they portray the scene by going through what they think had happened. Watching First 48, it actually a whole real life scene. Someone calls the police, they set up a crime scene, and they start to investigate instantly.They take the body to the forensic lab.Both shows are different in a way where CSI actually shows you what they do in the lab, and First 48 does not show you the lab and they focus more on the crime scene.The two shows both have reconstruction crime scene, but the way CSI does is that they dramatize the scene of the evidence.You can tell that there are unrealistic possibilities in CSI rather than watching First 48 where everything is what would actually happen. Both shows used the proper equipment for the scene.CSI is a lot shorter and the way they find the suspect is unrealistic because they show it in a half an hour time frame rather than an actual 48 hours.CSI leaves you wanting more as well as First 48, but First 48 will always be in favor of real Crime scene investigators because it is documentary based rather and a hollywood reality TV show.
CSI …show more content…
is full of trained investigators trying to examine the evidence. They find the missing pieces that will solve the case.“A criminal investigator is a person who conducts investigations for criminal cases. This person is responsible for collecting and assessing evidence for a case to pinpoint guilty parties. If you have ever watched an episode of CSI, you have seen criminal
Basic Criminal Investigation 2
investigators in action.
The ones in the real world do roughly the same work, but they don’t always have dramatic cases to deal with.” This explains the job of a criminal investigator and the job duties will vary depending on what type of crime there is. When it comes to every crime scene, it goes through steps before it is considered solved or unsolved. If it is unsolved, they have tried numerous times to solve the case, but had no leads or no witnesses. The steps are evaluating the case,collecting the evidence,analyzing the forensics, identifying the suspect, if you have a suspect, interrogate him/her, then you bring the case to court for trial and lastly, depending on if the criminal investigators did their job right justice will be served. Most investigators want to put the suspect in jail, but that is not always the
case.
I explain the procedures and process of a crime scene investigator because this is what the the show CSI deals with.Though, CSI is not like Law and Order where they interrogate a suspect, go to trial , and show if the suspect goes to jail or not. CSI has added drama and it deals more with investigating the actual crime scene. It is a scripted TV show and you can tell some of the scenes are over dramatic and unrealistic. The episode I watched was when a woman’s throat was slit in a car on the side of the road on a highway. It is about how the team of investigators find out the woman was once a man who underwent a sex change. They investigate and go out figuring out the life of transgenders. The way they showed reconstruction of the crime scene is how they would picture the crime in their head. They focused on the evidence in the car and they
Basic Criminal Investigation 3
tried to find the fabrics in the car if there was any evidence left behind. They find out who the suspect is, but they do not let the viewers know what happens to the suspect. They have the viewer assume. When they show how the evidence is transferred on to a body part, that is when dramatization and special effects come into play. They show the victim in the crime lab, and they investigate the possibilities of what may have happened. This episode was more realistic because they found the killer in a reasonable time because the suspect confessed. Usually, they would find out the suspect in the same amount of time, but it was unrealistic.CSI makes up more their unrealistic scenes by doing what actual Crime scene investigators do.
Watching an Episode of the First 48, this episode was on 9/7/12 and it was about a scene that occurred in Dallas Texas and two friends were walking in the woods and discover a dead body.It was near the rail road tracks and they call the police. It was during May 5th. The body was burned and it had no arms. It is missing the head and hands.The criminal investigator has experience of 19 years. First 48 is based on real life situations and and it is filmed on site, This show focuses more on catching the criminal and investigating what happened within the first 48 hours.This is more realistic because the time frame is actually a real scenario. There is no dramatization to it. This is actual real life homicides that happen in different cities. The investigators actually use forensic evidence, and witnesses to find the suspect. Though only says 48 hours, it goes on more than that and could even lead into years.The investigate the body and
Basic Criminal Investigation 4
they actually go into the scene.They did not show any crime lab or any special investigating on the body. They focused on more investigating the case and how it happened.
Watching both shows there are definitely more differences than there are similarities. When it comes to CSI, they find the body to open up the show rather than a witness calling the police. Once they find the body, they automatically observe the scene and then they take the body to the forensic lab.They actually take the time to observe the body and find out possibilities and theories of what could have happened in the lab. That is how they portray the scene by going through what they think had happened. Watching First 48, it actually a whole real life scene. Someone calls the police, they set up a crime scene, and they start to investigate instantly.They take the body to the forensic lab.Both shows are different in a way where CSI actually shows you what they do in the lab, and First 48 does not show you the lab and they focus more on the crime scene.The two shows both have reconstruction crime scene, but the way CSI does is that they dramatize the scene of the evidence.You can tell that there are unrealistic possibilities in CSI rather than watching First 48 where everything is what would actually happen. Both shows used the proper equipment for the scene.CSI is a lot shorter and the way they find the suspect is unrealistic because they show it in a half an hour time frame rather than an actual 48 hours.CSI leaves you wanting more as well as First 48, but First 48 will always be in favor of real Crime scene investigators because it is documentary based rather and a hollywood reality TV show.