http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/cs...collection.html

Give this a skim for those of you so inclined to peruse.

-Siege

Interesting reading.

Makes me wonder where CSI (the science, not the show) will be in 47+ years. Shadowrunning will be more like Gattaca than Pulp Fiction Im thinking

What really should scare you are Awakened Police Detectives with Psychometry and a lot of dice.

At least some forms of magical detection are inadmissable in court...but still enough to be granted a warrant. This is assuming you arce under UCAS law, some other nations are more lenient about magical evidence.

I've never caught the CSI bug, but I watch the "real" CSI on Tuesdays on the Discovery Channel. They have an excellent show called the "New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science" that I've watched on the better part of 5 years straight. If you're keen on the actual science of forensics, that show gets to the point much quicker.

However, the general public needs to understand how few crimes are actually solved. Many modern police departments lack the resources to adequately investigate murders which occur in their jurisdictions. Less serious crimes usually are lucky to have a report filed, and that's it . I've had several clients (I'm a lawyer....so the forensics interest is much more than just gaming) who've admitted to crimes that the police had no clue of solving, even after being given their Miranda warnings that they had the right to keep their mouth shut. I had a client one time who was interrogated with the detective going through the unsolved crimes folder and asking him (Did you do this? No? Did you do this? No?) until he admitted to an unsolved armed robbery. Sad but true.

In SR, while I believe the forensics capabilities would unbelievable, that technology also costs a lot of money. A corp like Lone Star or Knight Errant would have a difficult decision to make. One of the real powers a state prosecutor (at least in the US) has is a nearly unlimited supply of funds with which to make his case. Unless you're OJ or Kobe, a defendant usually doesn't get squat in return. Even then, I'm sure the state of California outspent the OJ defense team.

In SR, the situation would likely be reversed. The Star or KE has to solve crimes & make money. That proposition alone would indicate to me that they wouldn't waste valuable corporate dollars on prosecuting every crime, or using the most cutting edge tech on run-of-the mill crimes. Corporations are in business to make money, which, to me, is the antithesis of the attitude an effective prosecutor has to have. A Corp prosecutor has to be thinking a.) bottom line; b.) winning the case. IMHO, that's a recipe for kangaroo justice.

Very interesting SCLariat and it makes sense. I guess it has to do with the actual case. I can see at least 85% of the runs in our games being investigated simply because of the amount of destruction caused. Most SRunners run around with military hardware and they also attack corporations. It would probably be in the Star's or the corp's best interest to spend money on finding the perps. But then again, its all according to the circumstances.

Bah...starting to blend RL with fantasy...need to stop doing that and just have fun rolling da dice

If that crime was committed on extraterritorial corp property it's of Zero interest to lone star to investiagte anything, as no crime was comitted on Lone Star jurisdiction.

The shadowrunners in my games tend to use non-lethal techniques (stun guns, narcojet, stunball, etc. ) instead of lethal means. I have very little wanton death and destruction in my games because they're also paranoid about becoming a target for retribution. While one murder may not be investigated that much, I'm sure that any corporation would thoroughly investigate the violent death of of 4 or 5 security guards or numerous other random corporate employees. Bloodthirsty characters have a short life-span in my games.

Forensic science is always a good way to "encourage" your characters to a less-lethal style of game if so choose.