Something happened to popular culture in the 2010s. A genre once confined to pulpy paperbacks and late-night cable channels erupted into the mainstream. True crime is now a multi-billion-dollar media category. In the United States, more than half of podcast listeners tune in to true crime regularly. The genre shows no signs of slowing.
But why? What is it about murder, investigation, and human darkness that draws us in — and what does it reveal about ourselves?
The Psychology of Morbid Curiosity
Psychologists have a term for our attraction to disturbing content: morbid curiosity. Far from being a flaw, it is now understood as an adaptive trait with deep evolutionary roots. "Curiosity about threatening situations helps us learn about them without directly experiencing them," explains Dr. Coltan Scrivner, who specialises in this area. In ancestral environments, understanding how predators or rivals acted could be lifesaving. True crime is a safe way to gather intelligence about the darkest edges of human behaviour.
Research published in Personality and Individual Differences found that individuals high in morbid curiosity also scored higher on openness to experience — not a sign of dysfunction, but of an information-hungry mind.
The Safety of the Narrative Frame
True crime delivers fear in a controlled package. Unlike real danger, a podcast has an off button. The threat activates our stress response but remains contained — what psychologists call benign masochism. It delivers adrenaline and cognitive engagement without genuine risk.
Research on mystery enjoyment suggests we are deeply motivated by epistemic closure — the need for answers. True crime feeds this drive relentlessly, especially in episodic formats that dole out revelations over weeks.
Who's Really Listening?
Studies estimate women make up roughly 70 percent of true crime podcast listeners. One explanation is practical: researchers suggest women consume this content partly as risk assessment — learning how predators select victims and what warning signs look like. Another theory centres on empathy: true crime's focus on victims activates stronger empathetic responses. A third is sociological: it offers space to process fears about gendered violence.
The Killer's Perspective
A recurring element of the genre is its attempt to humanise perpetrators — drawing criticism from victim advocates who argue it glamorises those who caused the most harm. A growing body of trauma-informed research warns against content that reduces victims to plot devices. Some families have described productions made without their consent as deeply retraumatising.
When Obsession Crosses a Line
The wrongful identification of suspects by amateur online communities represents the genre's most troubling failure mode. The drive for closure that makes true crime satisfying can, in uncontrolled environments, produce mob dynamics that harm innocent people.
The Ethics of Entertainment
The best true crime — work like Serial or In the Dark — uses the format to illuminate systemic failures in policing and justice, contributing to overturned convictions and changed laws. At its most valuable, it is accountability journalism.
As the genre matures, producers and consumers are reckoning with what responsible true crime looks like. The darkness is real. The curiosity is human. What we do with both is up to us.