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True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's motives. True crime works often deal with Violent crime such as Murder and Serial killer, including high-profile cases (such as Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and the Zodiac Killer). A true crime work may use either a Journalism style with a focus on known facts, or a speculative style with a larger focus on the author's personal conclusions regarding a crime.
True crime has taken the form of various media, including literature such as magazines and books, television series and documentaries (which may sometimes feature Dramatization scenes of the crime based on published accounts), and digital media such as Podcast and internet video. A true crime series may be structured as an anthology of stories focusing on different cases, or cover a single case in a serialized format. True crime podcasts experienced a major growth in popularity in the mid-2010s, with Serial setting listenership records, and the genre as a whole having seen long-term gains in overall listenership. True crime works have been particularly popular among women.
Hundreds of , broadsides, and other street literature about murders and other crimes were published from 1550 to 1700 in Great Britain as literacy increased and cheap new printing methods became widespread. They varied in style: some were sensational, while others conveyed a moral message. Most were purchased by the "artisan class and above", as the lower classes did not have the money or time to read them. were also created, the verses of which were posted on walls around towns, that were told from the Suspect's point of view in an attempt to understand the Psychology motivations of the crime. Such pamphlets remained in circulation in the 19th century in Britain and the United States, even after widespread crime journalism was introduced via the penny press.
In 1807, Henry Tufts published A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, which is likely the first extensive biography of an American criminal.. A republication of A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, Now Residing at Lemington, in the District of Maine. In Substance, as Compiled from His Own Mouth. Dover, New Hampshire: Printed by Samuel Bragg. 1807. Thomas De Quincey published the essay "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts" in Blackwood's Magazine in 1827, which focused not on the murder or the murderer but on how society views crime. Starting in 1889, Scottish lawyer William Roughead wrote and published essays for six decades about notable British murder trials he attended, with many of these essays collected in the 2000 book Classic Crimes. Many regard Roughead "as the dean of the modern true crime genre."
An American pioneer of the genre was Edmund Pearson, who was influenced in his style of writing about crime by De Quincey. Pearson published a series of books of this type starting with Studies in Murder in 1924 and concluding with More Studies in Murder in 1936. Before being collected in his books, Pearson's true crime stories typically appeared in magazines like Liberty, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. Inclusion in these high-class magazines distinguished Pearson's crime narratives from those found in the penny press. The foreword of a 1964 anthology of Pearson's stories contains an early mention of the term "true crime" as a genre. Truman Capote's "non-fiction novel" In Cold Blood (1965) is usually credited with establishing the modern novelistic style of the genre and the one that rocketed it to great profitability.
Some true crime works are "instant books" produced quickly to capitalize on popular demand; these have been described as "more than formulaic" and hyper-conventional. Others may reflect years of thoughtful research and inquiry and may have considerable literary merit. A milestone of the genre was Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song (1979), which was the first book in the genre to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Other prominent true crime accounts include Truman Capote's In Cold Blood; Zodiac about the Zodiac killer, the best-selling true crime book of all time, Helter Skelter, by the lead Manson Family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry; and Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, about Ted Bundy. Rule's 1987 work, Small Sacrifices, tells the story of Diane Downs, an Oregon woman who in May 1983 murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children.Publishers Weekly. (1987 May 27). Small Sacrifices
Accessed 2021 April 23. An example of a modern true crime book is I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City gives a novelistic account of H. H. Holmes' operations during the 1893 World's Fair.
In 2006, Associated Content stated that since the start of the 21st century, the genre of writing that was growing the quickest was true crime. Much of this is due to the ease of recycling materials and the publication of numerous volumes by the same authors differing only by minor updates. The majority of readers of true crime books are women.
In the early 1990s, a boom of true crime films began in Hong Kong. These films ranged from graphic Category III–rated films such as The Untold Story and Dr. Lamb (based on serial killers Wong Chi Hang and Lam Kor-wan, respectively) to more general audience fare such as the film Crime Story (based on the kidnapping of businessman Teddy Wang), which featured action star Jackie Chan.
Multiple cable networks in the United States focus predominantly on true crime, including Investigation Discovery, and Oxygen—a network that originally aired a generalist format targeting women, but pivoted entirely to true crime and police procedurals in 2017 amid the success of series such as Snapped among its target demographic. An earlier example—Court TV—featured a mix of true crime-oriented programming (such as Forensic Files), as well as a daytime news block featuring coverage of legal news and jury trials. The channel later shifted to primarily airing reality television programming, and then relaunched as the more generalized TruTV in 2008.
Turner Broadcasting later syndicated some of Court TV's library to the digital multicast television network Justice Network (which itself rebranded as "True Crime Network" in 2022). In 2018, the rights to the Court TV brand and much of its library was sold to the E. W. Scripps Company, who subsequently relaunched the Court TV brand as a digital television network.
Streaming services have also carried true crime programming; Netflix experienced success with its 2015 series Making a Murderer, leading the service to make further investments into the genre to ride off its popularity.
Podcasts have now expanded to more platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others. Spotify has an expanding number of true crime podcasts with Rotten Mango, Conviction American Panic, Bed of Lies, Catch & Kill among many more. This genre has been on the rise as psychologist, Amanda Vicary, said her report found "women were most drawn to true crime stories that gave them tips for spotting danger and staying alive". Apple Podcasts added a dedicated "True Crime" category in 2019, and until then the podcasts that would be moved into the section had existed across many other categories, such as History, News & Politics, and even Comedy.
It has been speculated that fear could play a role in the popularity of true crime podcasts. These podcasts often recount horrific crimes, which triggers the fear response and the release of adrenaline in the body. Due to the possibility of binge-watching podcasts, adrenaline rushes can be experienced in quick bursts. Another explanation for the popularity of true crime podcasts is due to the serialized nature of crime, in which events happen one after another. Podcasts that explore a crime episodically can utilize this aspect in their storytelling. Another strength of these podcasts is use of typical Sensationalism techniques, such as inclusion of direct dialogue and focus on victims and their families. Podcasts can use music or other sound cues to maximize the intended impact or shock value of a fact, as seen in Serial.
In 2020, true crime podcasts held many of the U.S. top 50 spots for popularity by most listens, with Crime Junkie at 3, My Favorite Murder at No. 5, and others scattered among the top 50, such as; Serial at No. 13, Dateline NBC at No. 22, and Criminal at No. 30. In that year, true crime ranked third overall for genres by listen behind both comedy and news. From November 2019 through May 2022, true crime podcast listening increased the most of the top three genres by percentage gain in listeners, with a 66% gain (from ~12.9 million to ~21.5 million) in current listeners, versus the 44% and 37% gain in listeners by comedy and news respectively.
On Apple Podcasts, True Crime podcasts make up just less than half a percent of the total number of podcasts on the platform. On a collated list of 432 podcasts from the most-visited results of a search for "Top Podcasts of 2021", true crime podcasts made up more than 20% of the podcasts constituting the lists.
A study conducted in 2011, in Nebraska, showed that consuming non-fiction crime shows is correlated with an increased fear of being a victim of crime. As the frequency of watching true crime shows increased, support for the death penalty increased, while support for the Criminal justice decreased. In Australia, the amount of reports given to the crime reporting network Crime Stoppers Australia that led to Criminal charge being pressed doubled from 2012 to 2017. This increased interest in crime is attributed to popular true crime podcasts.
The true crime genre has been criticized as being disrespectful to crime victims and their families and is described by some as trash culture. Author Jack Miles believes this genre has a high potential to cause harm and mental trauma to the real people involved. True crime media can be produced without the consent of the victim's family, which can lead to them being re-traumatized. Recent discussions about the consumption of true crime media have also focused on the impact on the audience's mental health.
Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to well-established facts in journalism fashion or can be highly speculative. Writers can selectively choose which information to present and which to leave out in order to support their narrative. Artists have offered fact-based narratives blending fiction and historical reenactment. Author Christiana Gregoriou analyzed several books of the genre and concluded that tabloidization and fictionalization are pervasive in the works of some of the authors of true crime literature. In some cases, even books by the same author disagree on specifics about the same killer or events. For instance, some facts reported in Capote's In Cold Blood were challenged in 2013.Helliker, Kevin. "In Depth: Long-Lost Files Cast Doubt on 'In Cold Blood'." Wall Street Journal Europe. 19 February 2013: 14+. Capote's second attempt at a true crime book, Handcarved Coffins (1979), despite being subtitled "Nonfiction Account of an American Crime", was already noted for containing significant fictional elements.
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