39 Academic Research: “True Crime: Causing True Harm?”
Kathryn Blossom
Dr. Esther Houghtaling
ENG 1023.51
20 November 2022
True Crime: Causing True Harm?
Imagine you’re sitting at home watching television when you see a cast of A-list celebrities recreating the most traumatic events of your life as entertainment for the masses. What seems to be the makings of a nightmare became a reality for several families after the release of Netflix’s latest hit true crime series: Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. True crime as a genre has been increasing in popularity over the last decade, with Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer series one of the latest programs based on real-life crimes recreated for public entertainment. The true crime genre has several possible benefits, but with the recent release of Dahmer, the general public has begun to take notice of the genre’s many faults. In its current form, with those responsible for producing the content prioritizing ratings over human lives, the genre of true crime is doing more harm than good and will continue to do so until something changes.
True crime as a genre is highly exploitative in that it relies on the tragedy of real people in order to continue to create content. It is because of this that those who create the material possess an immense responsibility to respect the emotional weight of the situation they are portraying—a responsibility that is not currently being met. All too often the lives being portrayed in true-crime dramas and documentaries are treated as nothing more than characters in the nation’s next fascination, and real people are being forgotten and dehumanized as a result.
Such was the case with many of the victims and families portrayed in the Jeffrey Dahmer series released on Netflix in September of 2022, specifically Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims. In an article based on an interview with Isbell, Isbell recalls her experience watching her victim impact statement, originally delivered at Dahmer’s trial in 1992, recreated verbatim in the Netflix series: “I was never contacted about the show. … They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it” (Vlamis). This highlights one of the biggest issues surrounding the production of true-crime media: Those being portrayed have no control over the use of the events of their lives and often aren’t even aware of their use until after the fact.
This amplifies the already exploitative nature of the genre considering that those being portrayed are unaware of the recreation of their stories and are therefore not receiving any benefits for their involvement. Isbell echoes this sentiment in saying that “[She] could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims’ children. … If the show benefited them in some way it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless” (Vlamis). However, some argue that through sharing the stories of the victims and their families, it provides them a sense of closure and satisfaction, including Sarah Weinman who wrote an editorial advocating for the benefits of true crime. In Sarah Weinman’s editorial piece, she references the Netflix series Mindhunter to defend her claim that when done correctly, the true crime genre has the ability to make the world a better place. The series portrays an FBI agent as he investigates the murders of the Otero family, a real-life case that had gone unsolved for about 30 years until 2005. Weinman argues that the publicization of the story of the investigation and his eventual capture may be cathartic to viewers and the families of the victims to assure them that “justice delayed is not always justice denied.” While a few victims likely echo this sentiment and feel represented in the media through true crime, Isbell does not seem to be one of them, saying, “I don’t need to watch it. I lived it.”
Beyond the genre’s exploitative nature, the format of many of today’s true-crime dramas tends to glorify the criminal instead of grieving the victims. There are dozens of infamous serial killers, from Jeffrey Dahmer to Ted Bundy, each with several documentaries and dramas recreating their stories, and yet many would be hard pressed to name a single one of their victims. Whatever the motivation may be for telling these stories, true-crime programs have a way of immortalizing the worst of humanity in a way that tends to forget those directly harmed by it, turning real people into nothing more than characters in society’s next murder-mystery fascination. The Jeffrey Dahmer series became Netflix’s ninth most watched series of all time after its first week of availability (Cerullo). Following the series’ immense popularity, Jeffrey Dahmer-themed costumes began appearing on online shopping websites as orange prison jumpsuits, blonde wigs, and aviator style eyeglasses similar to the ones seen worn in actor Evan Peters’ portrayal of the criminal. Such actions caused online resale website, Ebay to ban the sale of items that “promote or glorify violence or violent acts, or are associated with individuals who are notorious for committing violent acts” (Cerullo). This sequence of events shows the degree to which society’s fascination with true crime has grown and their lack of awareness when it comes to keeping real criminals who have committed horrific acts of violence separate from pop-culture characters they can dress up as for Halloween.
Beyond any moral or ethical considerations in the harms of true crime, the true-crime genre has also led to real life consequences regarding our justice system, especially in the past few years with the rise of social media. The popularity of true crime in such an interactive digital age compromises the integrity of our justice system and the way law enforcement is able to conduct investigations. In the creation of true-crime dramas and documentaries, it is common for the true events of a real-life crime to be exaggerated or changed entirely in favor of a larger dramatic effect.
While this is perfectly acceptable when it comes to producing media purely for entertainment, when the media is the primary source of information for future jurors, it may pose several issues. Such influence of the media on jurors has been dubbed “the CSI effect” (Ruhman). Named after the popular procedural investigation show, this effect refers to the unrealistic expectations of the investigative processes and law enforcement caused by misrepresentation in the media. Because of this, prospective jurors are being asked to share how much true-crime media they consume as well as how much of it they believed when being considered for a jury (Ruhman). The prevalence of social media has also increased availability of information to potential jurors, making the jury selection process even more nuanced and difficult.
Not only that, but the intermingling of true crime programming and social media has given rise to what author Tanya Horeck refers to as “desktop detectives” (Horeck). The prevalence of “desktop detectives”in today’s society can be seen in the case of Gabrielle Petito. Petito was a 22-year-old travel blogger documenting her cross-country adventures with her 23-year-old fiance, Brian Laundrie (Weitzman & Narvaez). Petito was reported missing in September of 2021, and as news spread of both her disappearance and discovery of her body over a week later, law enforcement and “desktop detectives” alike flocked to the case to catch the culprit. Conspiracy theories surrounding the case were running rampant on the internet and Petito’s fiance, Brian Laundrie was quick to be identified as a person of interest. Though later evidence eventually revealed that Laundrie was guilty of murdering Gabrielle Petito, when outside influences feel equipped to insert themselves into real-life investigations, the investigative process itself is in danger of being compromised.
The genre of true crime is not completely without its benefits; when executed correctly it has the capacity to enact positive change. One of the main arguments in favor of the true-crime genre is that it shares the stories of those who have been through hardship and connects them with others who are able to relate to their experiences. While this is true, and it has led grieving individuals to communities of support, if this were the main goal of the genre, stories like that of Rita Isbell would be a rarity rather than commonplace. Another argument in favor of true crime is that it helps to educate the audience as to the dangers of the world as well as methods to avoid being caught in similar dangerous situations (Weinman). However, this mindset buys into the victim-blaming mentality in which it is the victim’s fault for not effectively avoiding the dangerous situation, rather than the perpetrator’s fault for instigating the danger in the first place. In order to avoid such mentalities, it is important to keep information shared for education’s sake separate from media shared for entertainment purposes. Each of the possible benefits is a valid opportunity of the genre to change society for the better, but can only be truly effective if the content is produced in a way that prevents the negative effects from outweighing the positive.
We as a society have bared witness to both the triumphs and the downfalls of the true-crime genre. At its best, it has the ability to advocate for those without the means to do so themselves and connect those coping with trauma in a harsh world. At its worst, it is a genre that exploits suffering in order to provide entertainment to an unflinching audience and profit to uncaring production companies. Ultimately, the genre of true crime is not inherently evil, just as it is not categorically positive. The genre has a unique immense capacity to facilitate change for the better, but only as long as it is being produced ethically. Otherwise, the genre’s inherent harms will continue to outweigh the benefits that can and should be possible. The true-crime genre provides us with a myriad of examples as to why the world is an unkind place, but it has also proven that it doesn’t have to stay that way, and it starts with changing how we approach the horrors of humanity. This means ensuring consent from those being portrayed, minimizing sensationalism, and shifting the focus from the spectacle that is serial killers back to the victims who deserve to be remembered as human beings, not statistics.
Works Cited
Cerullo, Megan. “Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween Costume Sales Banned on EBay.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 24 Oct. 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-dahmer-ebay-bans-halloween-costume/.
Horeck, Tanya. “True Crime: It’s Time to Start Questioning the Ethics of Tuning In.” The Conversation, 13 Sept. 2022, https://theconversation.com/true-crime-its-time-to-start-questioning-the-ethics-of-tuning-in-125324
Lett, Phoebe. “Is Our True-Crime Obsession Doing More Harm than Good?” The New YorTimes, The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/opinion/true-crime-petito.html.
Ruhman, Abigail. “The Impact of True-Crime Media on the Judicial System and Psychological Health.” Vox Magazine, 28 Apr. 2022, https://www.voxmagazine.com/features/magazine/true-crime-media-judicial-system-psychological-health/article_0175663e-c0c7-11ec-969f-e3452c1b4c65.html
Starliper, River L. “True Crime, True Damage.” Reporter, 11 Feb. 2022, https://reporter.rit.edu/features/true-crime-true-damage
The Learning Network. “Is True Crime as Entertainment Morally Defensible?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 June 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/learning/is-true-crime-as-entertainment-morally-defensible.html
Vlamis, Kelsey. “My Brother Was Murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer. Here’s What It Was like Watching the Netflix Show That Recreated the Emotional Statement I Gave in Court.” Insider, Insider, 26 Sept. 2022, https://www.insider.com/rita-isbell-sister-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-talks-about-netflix-show-2022-9
Weinman, Sarah. “Opinion | True Crime Always Risks Exploitation. but It Can Still Make the World a Better Place.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Sept. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/true-crime-always-risks-exploitation-but-it-can-still-make-the-world-a-better-place/2019/09/05/5bfa1b5a-d00a-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html
Weitzman, Tamara, and Narvaez, Chelsea . “Gabby Petito Case: A Timeline of Her Disappearance and Homicide.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 16 Sept. 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-timeline/.