Are Crime Shows A Crime

Do you watch those crime/court TV shows? I don't, so I tread lightly when writing about a closely related subject. It is the influence of TV shows on real court room juries. It seems that judges and lawyers are complaining all over the U.S. that the fiction jurors see on TV court shows is so convincing to them that they are sometimes basing their decisions on some of the fantasy they learn from the programs.
Two shows (that I have never personally seen) called "CSI" and "Law & Order" are most often cited as the culprits. There influence is so heavy that lawyers ask would-be jurors whether they watch the shows and then change strategies depending on their answers. The big problem is the TV fantasies set standards for evidence that prosecutors can not possibly meet. The jurors expect high tech (sometimes technology they see on TV that does not exists in the real world), indisputable forensic evidence before they will vote "guilt" for anyone accused.
So juror expectations are elevated because they believe every prosecutor in every court in every city has the same gadgets that the jurors watch on those silly TV programs. Sigh...It is a kind of, "One moment for this commercial and we'll show you evidence of his or her guilt or "innocence" mentality. One might say that life is imitating art (If you consider those kinds of TV shows to be art).
Since most real cases have little forensic evidence (fingerprints, DNA evidence, etc.), and few jurors understand this, prosecutors now must explain this fact to the jury before presenting their case. They must convince the juror that there is other evidence that can be used besides that. So even eyewitness reports are sometimes excluded by the juries who have been trained by TV to accept only forensic evidence as "real".
It's just another example of how fiction in media is translated into the reality by the viewer. I think too many TV viewers are so saturated by their programs that they lose their ability to discriminate between reality and fiction. In the case of a person being tried for a crime, this is a serious mistake. Any opinion on this?
I think I want to be a student at Brooklyn High in Cleveland Ohio. And probably most other men would want to be also. Why this regression to teenage years? Well, it's because of the kinds of homework assignments given at that school. Take the case of the Internet Porn assignment....That's right! A teacher at Brooklyn High assigned a research project on Internet pornography the other day. The assignment, since quickly canceled after protests from the kids' parents, asked the students to "research pornography" on the Internet and list "eight facts about pornography".
Hmmmmm I should do that on my own. Who needs Brooklyn High! Er.....uh.........never mind my personal involvement with the assignment. The students were also asked to write their "personal views of pornography" and "any experience they had with it". Wow! Does that teacher think those kids are ignorant of porno? Well, regardless, the Superintendent of the school district declared that studying harmful effects of pornography is a heavy topic for 15 year olds better left to a college student. He agree with parents that it was an inappropriate assignment. He also said that the teacher though misguided, will not be subjected to any punishment. But rumors have it Brooklyn has been deluged with over aged applications for new student enrollment since the assignment was given.