Insider
Society
Why are we obsessed with
true crime?
In today’s society, we have become addicted to true crime
documentaries and personal interviews with prolific serial kill-
ers. The real question is– Why? Amy Cannon
True crime has ex-
ploded in recent
years and can now
be found on televi-
sion, Netflix and
even podcasts. We
are desperate to
know the psychol-
ogy of twisted seri-
al killers and hear
the details of their
horrific crimes, but
is that a reflection
on ourselves?
Thankfully enough,
my research has
told me that psy-
chologists tend to
say that we are
very normal for
finding true crime
fascinating, as it is
so different from
the everyday lives
we lead. It is not
unusual to be in-
terested in some-
thing that we
struggle to com-
prehend, and
many of these
documentaries
deal with the very
core of crime- evil.
We are captivated
by the idea of evil
because 99% of us
find the notion of
committing abhor-
rent crimes com-
pletely unbelievable.
Psychologists say
that even as children
we are focused on
the concept good
versus bad, and true
crime documentaries
could be seen as an
extreme version of
bad.
Alternatively, some
“Extremely
Wicked,
Shockingly
Evil and
Vile was al-
ways des-
tined for
controver-
sy.”
Review of
the film by
the Inde-
pendent
(Clarisse
Loughrey)
say that we want
to get as much
information as
possible about
crime in order to
avoid it and pro-
tect ourselves
and our family.
This could explain
why programmes
that delve into
the motives of
the criminal tend
to be extremely
popular, as we
think it gives us
tools on how to
The College magazine online: sixthformmag.blogspot.co.uk