ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reception of early modern Spanish jurisprudence an analogue to what has been called the crime scene investigation (CSI) effect in contemporary criminological research, according to which the prevalence in popular culture of certain models of investigation, evidence, innocence and guilt alter the predisposition of juries to convict or acquit. The European sixteenth century witnessed an extraordinary expansion of the state and its bureaucracy. In Spain, especially, this expansion led to an explosion in legislation and litigation, and increased awareness and reflection on criminality and society's responses. The commonplace complaint, at least as the term 'CSI effect', began to make the rounds of criminal jurisprudence, was that such an evening pastime did much to inculcate in viewers an unreasonable expectation for scientifically derived forensic evidence. To use Peter Goodrich's term, emblem books and the theatre constituted essential tools in Hapsburg Spain's visiocracy, the medial and visual foundation of its rule.
