“He was Drugged up on Something...” Portrayals of Drugs and Violence on Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) as System Justification

• Author: Elizabeth Harden,Julie Snell,Tracy Sohoni
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/00220426211034404
• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Journal of Drug Issues

2021, Vol. 51(4) 690–710

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00220426211034404

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“He was Drugged up on

Something...”Portrayals of

Drugs and Violence on Crime

Scene Investigation (CSI) as

System Justif‌ication

Tracy Sohoni

1

, Julie Snell

1



and Elizabeth Harden

1

Abstract

We conducted a content analysis of the f‌irst two and last two seasons of the popular crime drama

Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), to determine the extent to which depictions of the intersection of

substance use and violence were consistent with research. Using the lens of system justif‌ication

theory, we f‌ind that CSI focuses on aspects of crime that preserve the status quo, specif‌ically it

overemphasizes the negative impact of illicit substances as opposed to legal substances (such as

alcohol), and it emphasizes the psychopharmacological role of drugs in violent crime compared to

systemic violence related to the illegality of drug markets, even though research demonstrates

that systemic violence makes up a large proportion of substance-related homicides. Despite

signif‌icant changes in drug policy that occurred during the time that CSI was on the air, we f‌ind

these portrayals are largely unchanged between episodes that were broadcast between 2000–

2002 versus those that aired 2014–2015.

Keywords

system justif‌ication theory, content analysis, crime, media, crime dramas

Introduction

On November 19

th

, 2015 NathanielPickett II was stopped by San Bernardino sheriff’s deputy Kyle

Woods while he was walking back to his motel room. Despite having no probable cause to arrest

Pickett, the deputy continued to question him. W hen Pickett attempted to leave, as he was legally

allowed, Woods tried to stop him, ultimately fatally shooting Pickett. Deputy Woods justif‌ied the

shooting in part by claiming that he suspected that Pickett was under the inf‌luence because he was

1

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Tracy Wright Sohoni, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, 6000 Batten Arts and

Letters, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.

Email: tsohoni@odu.edu

“f‌idgety.”It waslater discovered thatPickett had marijuana in his systemand a blood alcohollevel of

0.01%, which is far below the legal limit. Although the jurors in the civil suit against the sheriff ’s

department awarded US$33.5 million to the family, Deputy Woodswas never criminally charged and

returned to service after a short, paid administrative leave (Thompson, 2021).

Pickett isfar from the only man shot by police who justifytheir actions by claimingthey believed

the shooting was necessary because of suspected drug intoxication. The image of drug offenders as

being inherently violent or dangerous may be fueled in part by media depictions of drug users. The

specter of a drugged out criminal violently attacking innocent people looms large in the public

imagination and is frequently called upon to justify police shootings. Indeed, public discourse on

police shootings usually includes the results of the toxicology report of the person shot. The public

appearmore likely to conclude thatthe presence of drugs indicatesthat the victimof a police shooting

was indeed dangerous and the shootingwas justif‌ied. On a broaderscale, fear of drug usershelped to

fuel the War on Drugs,which resulted in erodingthe protectionsof citizens and subsequently created

conditions that allowed for higher rates of police brutality (Alexander, 2020;Cooper, 2015).

Given that many individuals in the US have limited experience with illicit drugs, as well as limited

experience with the criminal justice system, popular media may play a signif‌icant role in what

opinionsindividuals formabout drugs and drugpolicy (SubstanceAbuse and MentalHealth Services

Administration,2019). While the mediacan serve as an avenueto help people betterunderstand these

topics, it can also distort this understanding by showing unrealistic depictions of the intersection of

drugs and violence. Punitive drug policies have played a signif‌icant role in the build-up of incar-

cerationintheUS(Blumstein, 2011), and while o pinions and policies are starting to shift, particularly

in response to the recent opioid epidemic (Cook & Brownstein, 2019;Shachar, Wise,Katznelson, &

Campbell, 2020), it is of interest to evaluate the extent to which popular media portrays the in-

tersection of drugs and violence in accordance with what is known based on research.

Crime dramas are designed to entertain viewers, but frequently aim to feel “realistic”enough to

make viewers feel as though they are gaining insight into the world of crime and the criminal

justice system. System justif‌ication theory suggests that individuals prefer to interpret the world in

a way that assures them that the current social arrangements are fair and legitimate (Blasi & Jost,

2006), and that they live in a “just world”(Lerner, 1980). Using the framework of system

justif‌ication theory, we suggest that popular media is likely to use portrayals of drugs and crime

that will legitimize current systems of crime and punishment and will minimize aspects of drug

offending that could highlight failures of the system. We use a highly popular, long-running show,

Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) to explore the extent to which depictions of drugs and alcohol on

the show coincide with knowledge from criminological research as opposed to portrayals that

serve to justify system responses. To the extent that portrayals in popular media are likely to

inf‌luence public opinion on drugs and drug policy, understanding these depictions is an important

piece in the puzzle in ensuring that public policy is informed by criminological research.

Literature Review

Drug Policy

The War on Drugs was declared in 1971 and subsequently resulted in a dramatic increase in drug

control agencies, the implementation of mandatory sentencing for drug offenses, the use of no-

knock warrants, and a focus on the use of long prison sentences to combat illicit drug markets. The

War on Drugs, particularly the resulting crackdown on crack cocaine, was associated with high

levels of violence in communities (Reuter, 2009). The 1980s and 1990s saw an increase in the

number of people being incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses, with 50,000 people being

incarcerated in the 1980s to over 400,000 by 1997 (Caulkins & Chandler, 2006).

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