From ‘Penny Dreadfuls’ to Podcasts: Tracing Our True Crime Obsession and Why It Matters

Image Credit: Hanns Lilje: Martin Luther. En bildmonografi via Wikimedia Commons

Our obsession with true crime didn’t begin with podcasts and big-budget Netflix productions; this new media simply repackages a centuries-old obsession with crime and the macabre. From the 1724 execution of the infamous highwayman Jack Sheppard attracting crowds of over 200,000 (roughly a third of the population of London at this time), to the ‘penny dreadful’ publications in the 19th century gripping over a million weekly buyers at their peak with their tales of crime and horror. Given the brutality of such entertainment, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this fixation and use of violence as a social currency is at least partly a barbarism exclusive to the past.

However, it seems that true crime is merely being refashioned for modern tastes: a Pew Research study found that in 2022, roughly one quarter of top podcasts focused on true crime. On Netflix too, true crime documentaries dominate. With a shocking 15 of the top 20 documentary titles in 2024 being true crime, there is no doubt about the continued allure of the genre. In this age of constant advancements, allowing for undetectable CGI and scarily convincing replication of violence, how different is cosying down to watch the new season of ‘Monsters’ on Netflix than going to a public beating a couple of hundred years ago? The entertainment factor is the same, as are the real-life implications of the violence. Yet, somehow, we view this media as palatable, whereas our predecessors' tastes are considered unconscionable for viewing the same true crime.   

While it is clear that true crime, as a genre, is and always has been greatly compelling, the reasons we are attracted to it should not be trivialised. Some argue that we are fascinated by morbid tales as a form of fear management or emotional regulation. Yet, while this may appear harmless, the line between good exposure and harmful sensationalism can quickly blur. For many, unmanaged exposure to emotionally intense narratives can potentially lead to the loss of measured empathy and/or the belief that the world is more dangerous than it actually is – a belief that the normalisation of extreme content makes us much less likely to question. For example, of those who said their favourite podcast was about true crime, the most common reason for listening was for ‘entertainment’ (85%) over reasons like ‘learning’. More than this, the sensationalism of these podcasts means that there is often a lack of conscious consideration about this kind of content, which seems imperative in a genre centred around real-world violence, with real-life victims.

Perhaps it is time to be more intentional about the content we consume, especially when threats of conflict seem to lurk around every corner. So, while true crime is gaining momentum again, it is undoubtedly crucial to examine whether, in the thrill and intensity of the stories we consume, we are losing the empathy which should be at the heart of the genre.