In the episodes where the blood is spattered or in a large pool, the pattern of the blood varies from scene to scene. For example: A person is killed and the blood is sprayed across a desk. The pattern in scene 1 (finding the body) will be different than in scene 2 (going back to the crime scene for further evidence).
"The CSI Effect": CSIs are not detectives as this is exceedingly rare in real life, as they are actually classed as civilian employees. It is considered an inappropriate and improbable practice to allow CSI personnel to be involved in detective work as it would compromise the impartiality of scientific evidence and would be impracticably time-consuming.
"The CSI Effect": In many occasions, when arresting a suspect, the team is able to exact a confession but the Miranda's right are never read to the suspect, which could and would be used to render the confession unusable in a court of law.
"The CSI Effect": CSI's and detectives sometimes pick up a weapon with a handkerchief or by inserting a pencil in the barrel. In real life, the handkerchief might contaminate possible DNA evidence, and the pencil would destroy microscopic markings inside the barrel, making it difficult to match the weapon to slugs retrieved from a victim's body or a crime scene. Instead experts recommend holding a weapon in place with gloved fingertips and sliding a thin, stiff sheet of plastic beneath it.
"The CSI Effect": The series does not show the less glamours side of forensic science as real life CSI's get messy with blood, fingerprints, etc. As one real world forensic scientist quoted, "After several hours on the scene it looks like I have taken a bath in fingerprint powder."
"The CSI Effect": While often the science and technology portrayed in the series (as well as the other CSI series) is accurate or mirrors sound scientific principle, there have been times when methods have led to results simply not possible in the real world.
The characters of Nick Stokes and Sara Sidal consistently pronounce Nevada as "NeVAHda", something a real Nevadan would never do.
However, they're not Nevadans: Nick is a Texan and Sara is a Californian.
However, they're not Nevadans: Nick is a Texan and Sara is a Californian.
"The CSI Effect": In many episodes, the CSIs are shown taking photos at crime scenes, then enlarging and enhancing them to get clues that let them solve that week's crime. But in many instances, the original photo is blurry and out of focus and no matter how much you enlarge and enhance it you would not get the clear image of the clue that they always get on CSI.
Many times during different episodes you can see people that are supposed to be dead breathing or moving.
In later seasons, the same line pattern (which looks like an off-center 5-pointed arch) is consistently used when the CSI's try to search for a fingerprint match in AFIS.
"The CSI Effect": The investigation team routinely photographs the crime scene before allowing evidence to be touched or moved. Many times, however, a piece of evidence is picked up and handled before being photographed.