True crime as an entertainment genre has become wildly popular over the last few years, as evident by the ever-expanding pool of serial killer documentaries, docuseries, and crime shows that continue to populate our favourite media streaming platforms. The popularity and subsequent addiction to true crime content are typically attributed to peopleâs inherent curiosity about dark and morbid things. Researcher Coltan Scrivner suggests that true crime media allows people to fulfil their ânatural desire to solve puzzles and mysteriesâ, allowing them to observe tragedies from a safe distance. This lets crime content become entertainment value alongside our classic rom-coms and New York Times puzzle games, which is undoubtedly disturbing given the tragic nature and context behind true crime. Because of this, and for many other reasons (a few of which I have outlined in previously published articles, âMy Problems with True Crimeâ and âWhy I wonât be watching the new Jeffrey Dahmer seriesâ), the growing worldwide obsession with true crime has been under scrutiny, many believing that the genre contributes more harm than good into the world. Some of these issues include viewersâ desensitisation to violence or, on the other hand, the terrorisation of women viewers who come to view themselves as future victims. Other issues include the glorification of killers, the capitalisation of tragedy, the re-traumatisation of affected families, and many more.
However, as an avid true-crime-watcher myself, I find it difficult to completely rule out the genre as harmful and disadvantageous. I do wholeheartedly believe that there are ethical issues that come with the genre, however, I still believe that there are some positives which deserve some recognition. With that introduction out of the way, letâs get into one of the reasons why I believe true crime as a genre is performing a positive public service and how it isnât just contributing to the ever-increasing list of why we should fear the future of humanity:
Raising awareness
I believe one of the biggest assets of true crime content is its capability to raise awareness about missing persons worldwide. YouTubers such as Kendall Rae dedicate a lot of their content to raising awareness of missing people who have not received adequate local attention from the media or police authorities. Because these people have such a large following online, many more people become aware of these situations, and this opens the opportunity for more help in the form of more active searchers or even donations for the affected families of these tragedies. A recent success story that I think is worth mentioning is the case of Kayla Unbehaun, who went missing at the age of 9 in 2017 after she was kidnapped by her mother, who was not granted custody of her. The case of her disappearance was highlighted in an episode of the Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries. Because of this widespread coverage, Kayla was identified by a member of the public who had watched the show and recognised her. She has since been returned to her father as of May 2023. Existing articles on the case have undoubtedly credited the Netflix series for the success of this case, with headlines such as âMissing girl found after appearing in an episode of Netflixâs Unsolved Mysteriesâ and âMissing girl found because of Netflixâs Unsolved Mysteries reunites with fatherâ
Not only was Kaylaâs case being broadcasted on such a popular streaming platform good for raising more widespread awareness of her disappearance, allowing for more opportunities for her to be found, but it was also successful in raising awareness of family abduction. These abduction cases are when: âchildren are taken, wrongfully retained, or concealed by a parent or other family member depriving another individual of their custody or visitation rights.â Family abduction is often not taken seriously, as people believe that a child, if in the hands of a family member, is not in any serious danger. It is a common myth that abductions within families arenât harmful, as the threats seem less imminent or sinister than the motivations behind stranger abductions where the child is in unknown hands. This is perhaps because stranger abductions are given more attention in the media â personally, I havenât seen a lot of family abduction content in my lifetime up until I watched Kaylaâs episode on Netflix. However, in reality, family abductions are serious criminal offences and can still have the same devastating consequences that stranger abductions have. It is also important to note that most child abuse and kidnapping cases happen when the child knows their captor, making family abductions much more likely to occur. According to 2023 statistics, parental abduction is the most common type of child abduction case, with approximately 90% of child abductions conducted by parents. In the United States, 78% of child abductors are reported to be non-custodial parents, much like Kaylaâs mother.
So, in summary, I think true crime as a genre is redeemable in that it has been proven to be successful in raising awareness of missing peopleâs cases, which highlights the failures of the criminal justice system and police systems to provide these families with any justice. True crime can also be successful in helping missing people become found again, as more people are on the lookout. Furthermore, this particular example of Kayla Unbehaun has additionally raised awareness of the severity and legitimacy of family abductions, an issue that is so frequently neglected or dismissed from media discourse.
It would, of course, be more uplifting to see more success stories come out of true crime documentaries to validate the usefulness of the genre. Perhaps this is just a far-fetched way of me trying to validate my own interests in such a morbid and dark genre of media â but Iâll leave that up to you to decide.