CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

4 x 4 - S5-E19

Question: In Nick's case, why is nothing shown happening to Jackie at the end? I mean, if it wasn't for her kicking out Chase and Andy, so that she could have the house party (while her parents are on vacation), they wouldn't have ended up at the laundromat where Chase dies.

Heather Benton

Answer: There are not enough jail cells or funding for them to waste time and money charging people for crimes who are an indirect puzzle piece as opposed to being the person who directly committed the crime. While Nick is not a cop, he knows enough about solving crimes to know the law comes down to who is directly responsible. The law doesn't put much focus on who you could put some of the blame on indirectly, hypothetically speaking. No one in law enforcement is going to waste their resources charging Jackie. Particularly when all her lawyers would need to say is, by law, she didn't commit a crime.

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Question: Why doesn't the real CSI have the lab in house like a correction stated? It also said that DNA testing testing is prioritized by case importance. Why doesn't the CSI use this method in real life?

Answer: There are some exceptions; some smaller divisions have a lab in-house and sometimes LE is nudged to put one case over others and solve it quickly (i.e. very public cases to save their reputation). These have to be exceptions and not the rule. It is expensive to house together (real labs are much bigger than seen on the show and there are many more scientists who all specialize in an area). It can also cause contamination if labs are open to more people and makes mistakes easier to happen. Not to mention if the scientists work that closely with the detectives, they could be biased and get the cases dismissed. If it's independent, this isn't an issue. They also need to work on several cases at once rather than focus on one priority or it'll cause heavy backup, which is not fair to other families/victims. Any time LE is nudged to go quicker than usual, it only backs up other cases and creates a bigger risk of a case not being properly solved. All cases should be treated with care.

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Question: Is it really possible to get a fingerprint off the handle of a gun as seen on the show?

Answer: Yes. Fingerprints can be obtained from most places, including the inside of latex gloves. This makes getting a print off a gun child's play.

Ssiscool

Unlike the show, finding a fingerprint on a gun handle is rare. Most gun handles have textured surfaces that don't allow fingerprints to form.

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Factual error: In a number of episodes people are shown eating and drinking in the laboratories. For instance, in "Miss Willows' Regrets" Nick and Greg are seen eating fried chicken in the lab, and in "Overload" Sara eats a sandwich while watching Grissom experiment with her deli pickle. There are other examples. No reputable laboratory (which this is supposed to be) would allow its staff to eat or drink while in the lab. It is basic scientific protocol to prevent contamination of samples or the person picking up toxins on their food.

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Trivia: Anthony Zuiker chose to set the series in Las Vegas because that city's crime lab is the second most active in the United States, behind the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

Cubs Fan

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