Do We Enjoy Crime Too Much?

Today marks the release of Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and some viewers seem to be growing tired of how much attention is paid to these criminals. Are we glorifying their crimes, and disrespecting family members of victims, by watching content that tells these stories? Let’s see just how serious society’s addiction to crime really is.

It doesn’t surprise me that there are individuals out there who frown upon the enjoyment so many of us get from watching or reading, or listening about crime. Why do we do it? It’s a touchy subject with no easy answer, but it might all boil down to the thrill-seeking behavior some of us get from our (mostly) boring, predictable lives. Regardless of the why, there is a more important question: is it wrong to do it?

In my last article, I wrote about another controversial subject — incest in fiction. My conclusion was this: as long as we know to separate reality from fiction, it doesn’t matter what we enjoy reading about, or listening to, or watching, because the fictional world is a world in which our decisions won’t affect other people (or anything, really). I’m of the same opinion when it comes to the genre of crime, and how big of an audience it has.
The people who watch those shows, who read those books, who listen to those podcasts, are not the people who commit those crimes or defend those criminals.

Well, most of them don’t defend those criminals. I realize there are a few exceptions. I’m aware of the fact that certain individuals tend to side with murderers if they find them attractive. They will even write them letters, print photos for them to sign. So, yes, there are always bad apples — but don’t put us all in the same bag.

But that’s not all, folks. I have something else I need to say.

The crime obsession isn’t even as bad as some are making it sound. I’ve read about how there are too many true crime documentaries or too many crime-related TV shows… Sure, there’s plenty of both. However, there’s nothing pointing to that being what the audience likes the most. Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 10 Best Documentaries of 2021 doesn’t feature one single true crime documentary. Their list of the Top 20 (TWENTY!!!) Best Tv Shows of 2021 is also very scarce when it comes to crime.

Complaining about the extent of the addiction society has to the genre of crime is, to put it bluntly, a waste of time. Seriously: it’s a psychological phenomenon, and the human race is not going to stop being drawn to content of that kind. In terms of how well that content does, as we’ve seen, it doesn’t usually beat some of the other genres — at least not on TV.

There are other conversations worth having.