Analysis: True crime has the capacity to help victims if we let them be part of the narrative rather than just focus on the guts, gore and psychopathic killers
True crime has been a facet of our society since the 16th century, but the advent of mass media - from streaming platforms to podcasts - has made it a ubiquitous, ever-replenishing, form of content. We are so captivated by the guts and the gore, the potential to crack open a cold case, and the idea that a psychopathic killer might be around every corner that the central focus of true crime often gets lost in the shuffle.
Mary Ann, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane. Who are these women, you ask? They are the five victims of the Victorian murderer, Jack the Ripper. People know how they were dismembered, or the area of East London where they were found, but the women and their stories are merely footnotes. The Ryan Murphy series, Dahmer, recreated victim impact statements and the killer's horrific murders without the consent of victims' families. Still, Hollywood gave it a Golden Globe.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, Deirdre Molumby from Entertainment.ie on the best true crime TV shows and podcasts
While ardent supporters of the genre will reel off its merits, does true crime ever really help victims? In her research, Dr. Kelli S. Boling, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, finds that victims seek out true crime that helps to process their trauma or better understand perpetrators.
"I interviewed domestic violence survivors who listened to True Crime podcasts that focus on domestic violence incidents, and more than one of those women told me that their therapist had recommended it for a variety of reasons, not, not traditionally, exposure therapy, like not being exposed to the same crime that they went through. But to be able to feel this sense of camaraderie with someone else who went through that."
Dr Dawn K. Cecil is Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida. She agrees that some victims find comfort in true crime, especially because modern media has made the genre so interactive, but she says no two victims are alike. "People are very different. So what might bring one person comfort might actually re-traumatize someone else, whether it's their victimization or not that's being discussed, or, you know, dramatized."
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne show, UC correspondent with The Business Post Marion McKeon on the Gabrielle Petito case
A phrase that repeatedly arises when unpacking victim representation in a true crime is "missing white girl syndrome". The most cited example is the Gabrielle Petito case. Her remains were discovered at a national park in Wyoming when she didn't return from a cross-country trip with her fiancé.
Coverage of the case was criticised, because hundreds of indigenous women had also gone missing in the same park where Petito was found. "She went missing in the same park, the same National Park, as 710 missing Indigenous women have gone," says Boling. "None of them made the front page of the paper,"
Boling explains that a lot of true crime content originates from what the media has covered, and the media has a tendency to zone in on - young, white women. "If you think about that, from the perspective of who is making the decisions, right, the editor, the manager, things like that. They're going to be much more prone to feel sympathy towards a victim that looks like their granddaughter."
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From RTE 2fm's Dave Fanning Show, psychologist Dr Robert King from UCC on the public's obsession with true crime on screen
But even with thoughtful, well-researched content, there's a hitch; people can select specific elements and twist them into something harmful, says Dr Whitney Phillips, Assistant Professor of Digital Platforms and Media Ethics at the University of Oregon.
"The thing about representations of violence, depending on what the violence is, against who it is directed at, and all kinds of different factors, even if it's thoughtful, even if it's telling the truth, even if it's doing everything we would want it to do, it can still cause an enormous amount of trauma for audiences who aren't prepared to engage with that or who have lost someone in a similar way."
True crime podcasts often market themselves with a feminist slant; they offer women advice on safety, mental health and fighting oppressive patriarchal systems, but this discourse can veer quickly into victim-blaming territory. "Saying you know, don't wear red lipstick, don't wear a short skirt, don't go into the forest in the middle of the night. Why would you do that? That's insane, right? That is very victim blamey," says Boling.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Runaway Joe co-creator Pavel Barter on the story behind the latest true crime series
While true crime can increase paranoia, Dr Jennifer O'Meara, Associate Professor in Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin, says the appeal lies in its psychological benefits. It can behave as a "mental dress rehearsal for unpacking and understanding dangerous situations" "There is often a similar process at play with horror films – they can provide us with a safe and controlled environment for working through different kinds of fears."
In Dr Jen Erdman's experiernce, female victims are erased when the media portrays a crime, and the narrative is focused squarely on the perpetrator. Erdman is Assistant Professor of History at Notre Dame of Maryland University and part of the Grab Bag Collab, an all-female podcast network mostly made up of people with training in journalism or academia. Her podcast Catalyst only names offenders at the end of each episode. "When we continually talk about the offender and name them, typically him, but name them over and over again, we are exalting them. We are almost celebrating the killer. And we forget the victim."
Boling believes people are more drawn to tales about the wrongfully accused and cold cases because they want to help solve a mystery. She explains how the podcast Serial that focused on Adnan Syed, who was charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, "flipped the narrative."
From TEDx, are you an ethical true crime fan? With researcher Lindsey A. Sherrill
"They centred the voice of Adnan the accused because Hae and Hae's family wouldn't speak to them. So, the victim had no voice at all in that podcast." She says this led to copycats centring around the voice of the accused because they wanted to mirror its success.
Recently, RTÉ Documentary on One launched a new podcast, Runaway Joe. The story could have focused solely on Joseph Maloney, an escaped fugitive and alleged murderer but, at its core, it's about his victim June. The podcast wants to track Joesph down to finally bring justice to June's family. It speaks with her friends, family, and the couple's children to illustrate the irrevocable damage and trauma caused by such crimes.
In her book Fear, Justice & Modern True Crime, Dr Dawn K Cecil writes that true crime can give victims a voice, especially podcasting, due to the accessibility of the platform. She says this allows victims to drive the narrative themselves. In a New York Times essay Annie Nichol, the sister of Polly Klaas, the 12-year-old girl who went missing from her bedroom in 1993, wrote about the harm true crime can inflict on victims' families. Nichol and her sister Jess started the A New Legacy podcast in memory of Polly to explore how systems of punishment can be replaced with systems of care.
Trailer for Runaway Joe
Historically, the sensationalist dynamics of true crime media link back to what academics call "positive sensationalism," according to Dr Whitney Phillips. "There's something about the genre because it's sensationalist that has this potential for generativity, so, as much as it's really important to try to challenge, reflect on, worry about true crime. It would be a mistake to just reject it out of hand because it can also do important cultural work."
The concluding message is clear: true crime has the capacity to help victims, if we let them be a part of the narrative in the first place. To quote Annie Nichol, "when you truly listen to survivors, your heart rate should never be speeding up; it should be slowing down."
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
