[Freerollin`]

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Law and Order, along with every other police/LE show (ESPECIALLY CSI) is so far from reality that I can't watch them.

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I'm addicted to Law and Order. I've never watched more than a few minutes of CSI but it's obvious how over-the-top that is.

What general things do you think make Law and Order too unrealistic to watch? If you can't think of anything general, maybe a few things you specifically remember from an episode?

Note: I'm not necessarily implying that the show is an accurate reflection of reality, but to someone like me with no experience in LE, I can't really think of a time when it was unwatchable because it was too unrealistic... so I'm just curious as to what someone who was in LE thinks of it.

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In all legal shows, the evidence admitted at trial is almost always hearsay. Trials aren't conducted IRL the way they are on the show. Also, defendants do not go to trial a few weeks after the arrest. It takes a while. It's just completely unrealistic. Also, if you're a prosecutor and during closing argument say, "Put him in jail and send a message that this type of behavior isn't tolerated," you might as well get ready to try the case again: that's reversible error because of prosecutorial misconduct in most states. But it happens all the time on those shows.

I don't mean to say it isn't a good show, I'm sure it must be halfway decent to have lasted so long and to have so many spinoffs. But when you're in the profession, it just isn't interesting or compelling when you know it is so far removed from the way things happen.

By the way, I think most people know this, but if an attorney stood up during testimony and said, "Objection!!! Badgering the witness!!!" he'd be laughed out of court.