Society’s True Crime Obsession: Is it Harmful?
Photo credits: UW Medicine
It’s undeniable that true crime stories have become significantly more prevalent in contemporary media. From stories about murder to drug trafficking, it has found its way into every piece of consumable media in the form of books, podcasts, documentaries, and much more. We’ve all seen some adaptation of true crime storytelling; big hits like Netflix’s Tiger King in 2020 to Buzzfeed Unsolved are just a few examples. Research done by Parrot Analytics between 2018 and 2021 found that the true crime subgenre in documentaries had become the “fastest-growing segment of the streaming industry.” Yet despite its enticing storytelling and aesthetic merits, many have debated the morality of true crime media as well as the harmful effects it can have on our brains.
The intrigue and curiosity for true crime have existed long before streaming services like Netflix came into play. Even in the 19th century, people would buy tickets to public hangings as a source of entertainment. Moving ahead a couple of years, pulp-fiction books and magazines like True Detective largely catered to crime fans in the early 20th century. Alongside this, the 1980s and ‘90s marked the rise of media sources like Court TV and other true crime entertainment sources. True crime entertainment has become so popular over the years that killers like Ted Bundy or the Menendez brothers have become household names.
Nowadays, true crime media is often found in the form of podcasts and YouTube videos. YouTube channels like Bailey Sairan, who creates videos that integrate the atypical mix of makeup and true crime, has over 6 million subscribers. True crime podcasts are also becoming more and more popular, with podcasts like Serial being downloaded over 340 million times.
But why are people so drawn to true crime media? One reason is that when we watch true crime, our adrenaline levels spike at the fear of the unknown and the horror behind the crime. Scott Bonn, a professor of criminology at Drew University, says that “people receive a jolt of adrenaline as a reward for witnessing terrible deeds. [...] The euphoric effect of true crime on humans is similar to that of rollercoasters or natural disasters.” In other words, true crime entertainment enables us to experience the adrenaline rush and the fear in a controlled environment, where the danger is thrilling but is merely an image. Watching or listening to true crime stories thrills us, but it doesn’t actually risk our lives.
Another reason behind the psychology of society’s affinity for true crime is curiosity. We, as humans, are fascinated with evil and the justifications used for evil acts. True crime entertainment gives us a glimpse into the minds of people who’ve committed murder. Homicide, in the law, is not just black and white. People have different motives for committing murder, which can range from pure evil to something more “passionate.” Forensic psychologist Dr. Paul Mattiuzzi writes, “our fascination is driven by all of the many complexities that are to be found in the motive for murder.” True crime cases create many unanswered questions, which intrigue us. Curiosity and intrigue help us be safe in the real world, but when applied to works of fiction or art, it turns into a “mystery” or a “thriller.”
But the problem behind true crime entertainment is that we as viewers often seem to forget that there’s a victim behind each murder, each sexual assault case, or any other heinous crime. Creators of true crime media, however, focus solely on the victim’s tragic killing or assault and the narrative of the story, while the victim’s personality, livelihood, and any other detail that makes them human is treated as something trivial. As a result, the identity of the person behind the figure is forgotten when such victims are paraded in true crime films with their murders deconstructed in great detail, leaving only the murderer's name to be remembered.
Fictional dramas and true crime documentaries often fail to depict the genuine pain and trauma that is caused by these vile crimes. But television and media is a fast-paced industry, and oftentimes the emotional weight, true narrative, and impact can be profoundly misrepresented by the creators of said shows. Take a look at the British ITV show The Secret, whose storyline was based on a real-life murder of a wife. But despite resistance from the victim’s family, ITV commissioned the case in The Secret. Lauren Bradford, the daughter of the victim, wrote in The Guardian that ITV rewrote the “ truth to fit a narrative” and failed to capture her mother’s “ambition and drive, her wicked sense of humor, her thoughtfulness and warmth.” The airing of The Secret retraumatized the family while the creators and directors were celebrated. When real-life horror and crime are translated into documentaries and TV shows, they can fail to encapsulate the emotional burden and instead are sensationalized and monetized all for the sake of profit and to tell a “good story.”
Another criticism of the genre, when looked at from a Western perspective, is how true crime stories fail to correctly represent the realities of the criminal justice system. Although young men of color are more likely to be affected by violence and crime, true crime media rarely focuses on stories of young men of color, rather focusing on young white women. This emphasis placed on white women in true crime stories falls under the phenomenon of “missing white woman syndrome,” which is a term that refers to the media’s captivation for covering vulnerable or missing white women while being indifferent to cases involving missing people of color. True crime scholar Jean Murley said: “There’s something about the missing young, beautiful white woman that has a lot of symbolic weight in America,” when referencing Gabby Petito’s case, who was a white woman that went missing in mid-2021 and gained immense media traction. Missing white woman syndrome isn’t used in a way to diminish the victim’s tragedy or story, but it highlights the way Black and Indigenous victims of crime are trivialized, while upper-class white women like Gabby Petito are far more likely to receive media coverage and proper formal investigations. It underscores the implicit classism and racism in the American justice system.
The true crime genre is an entertaining source of media for all. We as humans are curious about what drives people to commit these crimes and are thrilled when we learn about the delicacies of the case. But the genre needs to stop sensationalizing tragedy and trauma all for the sake of entertainment and profit. True crime media often fails to fully represent the emotional weight of these crimes, consequently desensitizing the viewer. In addition, the victim in the story is often portrayed only as a victim, failing to encapsulate any other part of their personality or life. Because of this, true crime often dehumanizes the victim and can traumatize the victim’s family. Although the genre can be entertaining, people need to understand that true crime, more often than not, exploits the victim’s tragedy for profit and creates a deeply desensitized understanding of the crime that took place, reducing the victim’s life to being just a victim of an awful crime.