Research
The “True Crime Community,” or TCC, is the general name associated with an understudied group of people interested in crime and criminals. Little is known about the TCC, and exploratory research is warranted to better identify members and understand how they operate.
(Gaither 2021, 1)
The True Crime Community
The documentary storytelling mode allows writers, producers, and directors to explore real-world subject matter in a way that might be deemed inappropriate in traditional journalism. In these podcasts, hosts are free to speculate about who might be responsible—an act that might constitute slander in more traditional types of nonfiction storytelling.
(Boling & Hull, 2018)
The Folkloric Component
The Folkloric component is a narrative that is designed to be instructive, but not necessarily educational. It needs to sound like a story or folklore; something others would want to share. True-Crime as a genre presents us with unofficial knowledge learned in an interactive way, but that has no true impact on the justice system in most cases. It is for the community and provides places for people interested in crime, to discuss their thoughts and theories and share one's own knowledge.
(Boling, 2020)
The Origins of True Crime
The work usually considered to be the first full-length detective novel, Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone (1868), features a fictional detective, Cuff; a figure clearly based upon Detective Inspector Jack Whicher, one of eight men chosen to be the first detectives within the newly established (1829) Metropolitan Police
It was in the twentieth century however, that true crime narratives achieved a level of popularity and obsession that has continued and intensified over the first two decades of the twenty-first. Historically, the best-selling true-crime account is Vincent Bugliosi’s (chief prosecutor in the trials of Charles Manson) and Kurt Gentry’s 1970’s Helter Skelter. In second place is Truman Capote’s 1966 journalistic account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcombe, Kansas.
(Wiltenburg, 2004)
Common Motivations among the True Crime Audience
True Crime presents a unique type of producer & audience relationship and includes more interaction between the two than other genres have. True-Crime fanatics often see themselves as a part of a community, this community includes those producing the narratives, meaning the level of communication is higher and people feel heard.
In 2010, Vicary and Fraley studied female fascination with true crime books and found that women are more drawn to this genre than men because women have a desire to avoid becoming the victim of a crime and they want to educate themselves for a worst-case scenario.
(Boling & Hull, 2018)
Technology and Social Medias Impact on True-Crime
The internet has revolutionized the TCC (True Crime Community) by attracting members and promoting deviance in two ways: heightened exposure to news stories with details about killers and subcultural formation
The anonymity of the internet frees users from potential embarrassment or stigma towards their interests, allowing them to explore different topics openly, unconstrained as they may be in a real-life environment
(Keeler, 2021)
The Genre of True-Crime
With an estimated 169 true crime podcasts currently available, true crime has become one of the more popular genres in podcasting. These podcasts differ greatly in both content and style, from justice vigilante to coffeehouse gossip. There is no set formula for creating a true-crime podcast, and since the medium offers a low barrier to entry, almost anything goes. This genre connects facts from the real world with a fictional-style narrative format, true crime stories naturally blur the line between news and entertainment.