True crime is a type of non-fiction writing that looks at real crimes. It describes what people involved in or affected by the crime did, and it tries to understand why the person who committed the crime acted that way. True crime stories often focus on serious crimes like murder and crimes by people who kill many people, such as Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and the Zodiac Killer. These works can be written in a journalistic style, which means they focus on facts that are known, or in a speculative style, which means the author shares their own ideas about what happened.
True crime appears in many forms, such as books, magazines, TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, and online videos. Some true crime series tell stories about different cases, while others follow one case in a series of episodes. In the mid-2010s, true crime podcasts became very popular, with one called Serial attracting many listeners. Over time, more people have been listening to true crime stories. This genre has been especially popular with women.
History
Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (about 1617) is a collection of stories from the late Ming dynasty that describe people accused of cheating. This work is part of a Chinese literary tradition called gong'an xiaoshuo (court case fiction), which includes both made-up stories and ones based on real court cases, such as the 16th-century Cases of Magistrate Bao.
Between 1550 and 1700 in Britain, hundreds of printed materials such as pamphlets, broadsides, and chapbooks were created about crimes like murder. These materials became more common as more people learned to read and new, inexpensive printing methods were developed. The styles of these materials varied: some were exciting and dramatic, while others taught lessons about right and wrong. Most were bought by people with higher jobs and more money, as lower-income individuals often lacked the time or resources to read them. Ballads, which were songs with verses posted on town walls, sometimes told stories from the perspective of the person who committed the crime, aiming to explain their reasons for doing so. These materials remained popular in Britain and the United States into the 19th century, even after the rise of crime journalism in newspapers called the penny press.
In 1807, Henry Tufts published A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, which is likely the first detailed biography of an American criminal. In 1827, Thomas De Quincey wrote an essay titled "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts" for Blackwood's Magazine. This essay focused on how society viewed crime, not the crime itself or the person who committed it. Starting in 1889, Scottish lawyer William Roughead wrote essays over six decades about famous British murder trials he attended. Many of these essays were later collected in the 2000 book Classic Crimes. Roughead is often called "the dean of the modern true crime genre."
An early American pioneer of true crime writing was Edmund Pearson, who was influenced by De Quincey’s style. Pearson began publishing a series of books about crime in 1924 with Studies in Murder, ending in 1936 with More Studies in Murder. Before these books were published, Pearson’s stories appeared in magazines like Liberty, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. These magazines gave his work a more respected status compared to the cheap newspapers of the penny press. A book published in 1964 that collected Pearson’s stories included one of the first uses of the term "true crime" to describe this genre. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (1965), a "non-fiction novel," is often credited with shaping the modern, novel-like style of true crime writing and making the genre widely popular and profitable.
Forms
The first true crime magazine, True Detective, was published in 1924. It shared straightforward stories about crimes and how they were solved. During the genre’s most popular time, before World War II, 200 different true crime magazines were sold on newsstands, and 6 million magazines were sold each month. True Detective alone had 2 million copies in circulation. Magazine covers often showed women being threatened by criminals, with these images becoming more intense in the 1960s. Public interest in these magazines dropped in the 1970s, and by 1996, almost no true crime magazines were being published, including True Detective, which was shut down by a new owner.
True crime books often focus on shocking or unusual events, especially murder. Even though murder makes up less than 20% of all reported crimes, it is the main topic in most true crime stories. About 40% of these books focus on serial killers, who have become a popular sub-topic. A survey from 1993 found that true crime books about serial killers, especially those with graphic details, were the most successful.
Some true crime books are written quickly to take advantage of public interest. These are often described as following a standard pattern. Others are the result of long research and may have high literary value. A major achievement in the genre was The Executioner’s Song (1979) by Norman Mailer, the first true crime book to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Other well-known true crime works include In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Zodiac about the Zodiac killer, Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, and The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, which is about Ted Bundy. Rule’s 1983 book, Lust Killer, tells the story of serial killer Jerry Brudos, who killed four women in Oregon in the 1960s. Her 1987 book, Small Sacrifices, describes the case of Diane Downs, an Oregon woman who killed her daughter and tried to kill her other children in 1983. A modern example is I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells the story of H. H. Holmes during the 1893 World’s Fair.
In 2006, Associated Content reported that true crime was the fastest-growing genre of writing since the start of the 21st century. This is partly because it is easy to reuse material and because many authors write multiple books with only small changes. Most true crime readers are women.
True crime documentaries have grown in popularity over the years. The Thin Blue Line (1988), directed by Errol Morris, was one of the first influential true crime documentaries. It used reenactments, though some filmmakers avoid this method because they believe it does not show the truth.
In the early 1990s, true crime films became popular in Hong Kong. These films included graphic movies like The Untold Story and Dr. Lamb, based on real serial killers, as well as more general films like Crime Story, which was about the kidnapping of a businessman and starred Jackie Chan.
Several U.S. cable networks focus on true crime, such as Investigation Discovery and Oxygen. Oxygen originally targeted women with general programming but shifted to true crime in 2017 after the success of shows like Snapped. Earlier, Court TV mixed true crime shows like Forensic Files with legal news, but later shifted to reality TV and became TruTV in 2008.
Turner Broadcasting later shared some of Court TV’s content with the Justice Network, which rebranded as the “True Crime Network” in 2022. In 2018, the rights to Court TV and its library were sold to the E. W. Scripps Company, which relaunched the brand as a digital network.
Streaming services like Netflix have also featured true crime content. Making a Murderer (2015) was a success and led Netflix to invest more in the genre.
Podcasts with true crime themes became popular after Serial, a 2014 podcast, reached 5 million downloads on iTunes faster than any other podcast. By September 2018, it had been downloaded over 340 million times. Other popular true crime podcasts include Criminal, Dirty John, My Favorite Murder, Someone Knows Something, and Up and Vanished.
Podcasts are now available on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Spotify offers many true crime podcasts, such as Rotten Mango, Conviction, and Bed of Lies. A 2019 report found that women were most interested in true crime stories that provided tips for staying safe. Apple Podcasts added a “True Crime” category in 2019.
Some experts suggest that fear may explain the popularity of true crime podcasts. These podcasts often describe violent crimes, which can trigger fear and adrenaline. The serialized nature of crime stories, where events happen one after another, also makes podcasts engaging. Techniques like using direct quotes, focusing on victims, and adding sound effects help highlight key details.
In the U.S., women make up about 73% of the audience for true crime podcasts. A 2019 report found that around 90 million Americans over 12 had listened to a podcast in the past month, and 28% were interested in true crime topics.
In 2020, true crime podcasts held many of the top spots in the U.S. for popularity, with Crime Junkie at No. 3 and My Favorite Murder at No. 5. True crime ranked third overall in podcast genres, behind comedy and news. Between November 2019 and May 2022, true crime podcast listening grew the most, increasing by 66% (from about 12.9 million to 21.5 million listeners), compared to 44% for comedy and 37% for news.
On Apple Podcasts, true crime podcasts make up less than half a percent of all content.
Impact
True crime stories can affect the crimes they talk about and the people who watch or read them. The way true crime events are covered in the media can change how authorities or communities handle the crime after it happens. For example, the Netflix show Making A Murderer has had real-life effects, such as being used in law schools as teaching material and causing more people to distrust criminal investigators. In some cases, true crime stories can influence the cases they cover, like when Robert Durst appeared to admit to murder in the documentary The Jinx and was later arrested.
A study from 2011 in Nebraska found that people who watch non-fiction crime shows are more likely to feel afraid of becoming victims of crime. As people watch more true crime shows, they are more likely to support the death penalty and less likely to trust the criminal justice system. In Australia, the number of tips given to Crime Stoppers Australia that led to arrests doubled between 2012 and 2017. This increase is linked to the popularity of true crime podcasts.
Some people criticize the true crime genre for being disrespectful to victims and their families. They call it "trash culture." Author Jack Miles believes this genre can harm real people involved in the crimes. True crime media is sometimes made without the permission of victims' families, which can cause them to feel hurt again. Recent discussions about true crime media also focus on how it might affect the mental health of people who watch or read it.
Depending on the writer, true crime stories can be based strictly on facts, like a news report, or they can include a lot of guesses. Writers may choose which details to include or leave out to shape their story. Some artists mix real facts with made-up parts, like acting out past events. Author Christiana Gregoriou studied several true crime books and found that many use sensational details and add made-up parts. In some cases, even books by the same author disagree on facts about the same crime. For example, some details in Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood were questioned in 2013. Capote's later book, Handcarved Coffins (1979), which was meant to be a true story, was found to include many fictional elements.