True crime, on Youtube alone, is a two billion dollar industry. But as you know, it’s much larger than that; turn on the TV, scan the streaming services, nose through podcasts… true crime is everywhere. With such a huge audience focused on the most traumatic moments of the victims’ and their family’s lives, the question has to be asked:

Is true crime ethical? Is it okay to find entertainment in stories of horrific murders, kidnappings, and more? Where do we draw the line? Before we discuss these questions, we must have a look into why true crime is so popular.

WHY DO PEOPLE WATCH TRUE CRIME?

Well, the answer is simple in my opinion, and would resonate with many other true crime enthusiasts: people are curious about the mental aspect and it’s hella entertaining. We’re curious how a seemingly normal person can go about his business with a dead body in the basement. We’re curious what kind of a childhood could mess someone up so bad, and how the bad parts of our own childhoods didn’t lead us there mentally. Why do they do it? For some fucked reason, we want to dive into that mystery. Looking inside the brains of people like Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundy and finding out if there was something wrong about them from the start or if they were normal, until they weren’t.

If one thing is for sure, it’s that the community isn’t just a group of evil serial killer-worshiping narcissists. In fact, there’s a theory that those who have experienced trauma or abuse, use it as a form of therapy. Trauma Counselor Christie Tcharkhoutian has gone on record stating, "the psychological reason that we are attracted to watching true crime shows is for the purpose of re-experiencing traumatic situations in safe environments. Furthermore, many people who grew up in chaotic households are uncomfortable with peace - true crime gives them a taste of that chaos they subconsciously crave without searching it out in the form of abuse from a partner or impulsive and dangerous behavior.”

Lastly, the story of good versus evil will always draw an audience in. Look at Star Wars, Harry Potter, Twilight, Doctor Who, Breaking Bad — pretty much all of the most popular entertainment of our generation has some form of good versus evil within it. It’s a compelling archetype that, whether or not we are aware of it, we are drawn to. 

THE ARGUMENT AGAINST TRUE CRIME

Even those in the true crime community can admit there are pieces of it that are toxic. Before we can talk about the potential pros of true crime, we have to talk about its cons and the very real harm it can do. Some believe that true crime is unethical and profits off of the tragedy of others, often without the consent of victims' families. When people treat the genre as entertainment and get excited over their favorite cases it can be disrespectful—overlooking the pain caused by said cases. While it’s true that the true crime community has solved a few cases, there are cases where they’ve incorrectly targeted innocent people such as with the Boston bombing

It can be deemed insensitive to retell someone’s story while the people affected are still alive to relive it such as in the case of the Dahmer movies and Netflix series—Tony’s mother has come out to condemn their impact and profiteering. Overall, the genre can cause desensitization to such a tragedy, ignoring the very real impact it can have on those involved in the real-life events. 

Many true crime channels focus on the perpetrator and in-turn glamorize murder. This can be detrimental, like in the case of school shooters and teenage girls that are obsessed with them—“I can fix him…”

As some of these heinous acts are committed for notoriety, believing that they can develop some kind of legacy through their actions. Unfortunately they’re right, because true crime videos will plaster their names up and down the internet.  And in many cases, documentaries can be extremely glamorizing—like casting Zack Effron as Bundy because…well, he’s hot. It’s easy to argue that they sexualized a serial murderer to get more views. They definitely did that in the Netflix Dahmer series.

Lastly, the media attention around certain child cases, such as Madeline McCann, certainly feels like exploitation of a child, profiting off their unsolved disappearance, especially when there hasn’t been any new evidence for years. It looks like a cash grab.

The ARGUMENT FOR TRUE CRIME

It’s perfectly normal to be fascinated by what drives people to commit atrocities. At its best, true crime can serve as a conduit for advocacy, as a platform for families to get their stories out, and as a way to raise awareness about missing persons or under-persecuted perpetrators. True crime enthusiasts can even be helpful. They’ve solved cases (such as the case in the Netflix series Don't Fuck With Cats) and they’ve aided the police in countless instances.

For example, in the past few years the crime statistics for “people in cars in lakes” have been generated by the true crime community, thanks to those who access sonar and water searching equipment and go searching for missing persons. This is an entirely new crime statistic we may not even know about if it weren’t for individuals in the true crime community. There is even a case where police reached out to the community and they went through the Dating Game Killer’s old photos, identifying the women in said photos. In addition, cold cases that have been left to collect dust are being brought back into the public eye, which can garner awareness enough to help solve or incentivize police to help solve the case. 

When done right (focusing on the victim and raising awareness) true crime can be respectful. Some would say making money off of other’s pain is wrong. It’s certainly not righteous, but there have been instances where true crime creators donate most of their earnings to relevant charities. What’s more is that these movies and shows often highlight red flags to look for and avoid in other people, something that can literally save lives. Especially in cases about brainwashing or cults, those who have been indoctrinated have a chance to see their rewiring from the outside and get out while they still can. Also, from a victim’s perspective, seeing justice served to a perpetrator who did something that once happened to you can be cathartic, as many offenders are never properly punished, and victim’s don’t get justice and closure they deserve.

THE OPINION OF A TRUE CRIME ENTHUSIAST

Stuck between the pros and cons of being a true crime fan, I reached out to long-time community member and my friend Maggie for her opinion.

via Maggie:

True Crime — covering in depth the sins of these murderers — should be shown so that people are aware that these people exist in the world and who they are.

It’s important to share what these people went through. It would almost be disrespectful to not acknowledge these people and putting our head in the sand doesn’t help anyone. People should know the stories of the victims. It almost immortalizes them as they were, when their background is talked about, and not just as a face and statistic. Covering the stories respectfully and accurately is the key. There is too much disrespectful, victim-blamey, glorifying content of murderers. Most of the 90s and early 2000s content is actually like that - take the Dahmer movie with Jeremy Renner for instance. It turned these peoples story into a horror film. Yes, it’s certainly a real-life horror story but making a movie in that fashion is exploitative.

When people think true crime is bad they think of this type of content but the sphere around true crime is changing and heading in a more respectful direction. Most of the media now is very fact-oriented, not glorifying. And with the Zach Effron thing; just because he is sexy doesn't mean he was sexualizing the character. He looked a little like Ted Bundy is all. And furthermore, Bundy was canonically viewed as good looking and that’s how he lured these women. It’s a huge part of the story of how he committed these crimes and why he was able to get away with it for so long. In fact, the movie was mostly about his girlfriend’s story.  Again, if we bury our heads in the sand and pretend that these things don’t happen we are doing a disservice to ourselves and the victims, as well as perpetuating the problem by showing evil individiduals who don't care about legal consequences and a lack of social consequence.

With all that being said, you’re free to make your own conclusions about true crime. However, in my opinion, as long as the content is respectful and has the permission of the victim’s family or estate, it’s perfectly fine to be part of the true crime community.