The CSI Effect

Prosecutors these days complain about the "CSI effect": the belief among jurors that a case isn't proven unless there's some whiz-bang lab work involved. Most cases, of course, are more about individuals saying "this is what I saw". Prosecutors have to try to work around the CSI effect. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I stole this from a colleague, but it's too good to pass up:

Q (prosecutor): Who here watches CSI? (Lot's of hand raise)
Q: Juror #7, do you believe CSI is realistic?
A: No
Q: Can you give me an example of how CSI is unrealistic?
A: All the women wear low cut blouses.

Do we speak the same language?

Couple odd expressions today:

Tried to call a teenage client and got his voicemail. Among the other things on his outgoing message:

"If this is Sweetie calling, I love your bitch ass!"

I don't think the girls I knew as a teenager would have found that endearing.

Then, in court, some kid had a t-shirt on with "PIMP" in large letters. I grew up in a town with a notorious prostitution problem; until I grew up and left I thought every town had pimps and hookers hanging out openly on the downtown corners. Pimps, especially, were considered disgusting lowlifes. Somehow these days it's considered a positive thing.

I must be getting old, saying that I can't understand today's youth.

Speaking of which, I recently found a web site with graffiti found on the walls of Pompeii, written sometime just before it was buried by a volcano in AD 79. Note that the ancient Romans could be pretty earthy, so it's not for the easily offended. The interesting thing is that so much of it sounds like stuff my clients write on walls today.

Some things never change...