By its most common definition, ‘true crime’ is a nonfiction genre of popular media that concerns real-life crimes. The focus of a work of true crime may be a single case – often a murder, disappearance, sexual assault or other violent crime – or the collective acts of a single criminal. Emphasis is placed on the presentation of facts and, where possible, the establishment of a chronology of events that took place during the crime. Most true crime works are divided between ‘solved’ and ‘unsolved’ in their choice of subject matter. The former examine historic cases where a culprit has been identified and most or all details of their criminal acts uncovered. The latter are characterised by the intense speculation they often stoke among avid fans as to perpetrators’ identities, actions and motives, though most content creators place the greatest focus on relaying known facts and state explicitly when opinion becomes involved. One of the earliest and most well-known subjects of true crime fascination was the media-dubbed Jack the Ripper, whose serial murders inspired speculation that continues to the modern day. It can be said that ‘true crime’ is only the contemporary label that has been attached to a form of entertainment with a far longer history. The first immortalisations of real-world criminals came in the form of ballads and penny dreadfuls, though the true crime genre as we understand it today has its roots in TV documentaries. ‘The Thin Blue Line’ and ‘Making a Murderer’ are two of the most prominent documentaries whose use of reenactments and other now-common techniques laid the foundations for the present shape of the genre. This would go on to be fully codified by the emergence of internet-based media and podcasts, such as ‘Serial’ in 2014 and ‘Dr. Death’ in 2018, among innumerable others that now fully saturate the subculture. These podcasts, which can be listened to while travelling or otherwise active, saw a significant increase in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic that some psychologists attributed to a need for escapism in daily life. Now, true crime is an entertainment staple. A full half of Americans polled in 2022 said that they enjoyed true crime media, with one in three saying that they consumed it at least once per week. The demographic most prone to enjoying true crime consists, perhaps surprisingly, of teenage and young adult women, with the majority preferring to view their favoured content in TV or film format. Mainstream entertainment has seen the allure of true crime and the audiences that flock to it, and high-budget productions emulating the genre have begun to emerge. One such example would be Netflix’s controversial series ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, which focused predominantly on recreating the life of the titular serial killer – and which narrowly avoided a lawsuit from Lionel Dahmer over its perceived “exaltation” of his son’s killings. What is True Crime? “The demographic most prone to enjoying true crime consists, perhaps surprisingly, of teenage and young adult women.” “True crime’s new popularity has thrown the relationship between journalists and the subjects they cover into stark relief.” The Meteoric Rise 30 LAWYERMONTHLY FEBRUARY 2023
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