The Exploitation of True Crime

Written by Sarah Kirsch, Culture Assistant Editor | Photography credits on following page

Content Warning: This article contains details of murder, serial killers and death.

One in three Americans consume true crime content once every week, and one in four Americans consume it multiple times a week.1 No matter the platform, people in the U.S. love true crime — especially women, who are more likely to enjoy true crime than men and twice as likely to say it’s their favorite genre.2 Two popular serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, help us understand society’s fixation on true crime.

The Jeffrey Dahmer series has one season, and it’s about Dahmer’s motives and how he became a well-known serial killer in the U.S. It focuses on the 17 men Dahmer killed and other crimes he committed before he was murdered in jail. Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences and died on Nov. 28, 1994.3

The series received mixed reviews, with some fans on TikTok calling him a “hot serial killer” because of the actor Evan Peters. Many viewers also romanticized Dahmer, feeling bad for his life after watching the show.4 While there are many fans applauding Peters’ acting because of how difficult it is to portray such a complex person, viewers have been questioning the morality of the production.

The families of Dahmer’s victims spoke out against the series because they were unaware of its creation. They said if they had known, they would’ve said no to its production. Because of this, many viewers have felt uncomfortable watching it and think that Netflix only cares about the financial profit the show has created. It is no secret that the victims’ families haven’t wanted their personal trauma publicized; when Dahmer’s father wrote a book about his son’s crimes, the families threatened to sue for earnings and he didn’t publish it.5

“It’s about what sells, what makes money, and it’s sad. That’s what many of them [producers of true crime] are looking at,” Rhonda DeLong, DePaul criminology professor, said.6

1 Taylor Orth, “Half of Americans enjoy true crime,” YouGov, Sept. 14, 2022. 2 Ibid. 3 Mary Phelps, “Netflix sensation ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ sparks controversy,” The Gonzaga Bulletin, Oct. 17, 2022. 4 Lucy-Jo Finnighan, “Viewers asked not to “romanticize” Jeffrey Dahmer,” Dexerto, Sept. 23, 2022. 5 Ramon Vargas, “Mother of Dahmer victim condemns Netflix series,” The Guardian, Oct. 10, 2022. 6 Lilly Keller, “True crime podcasts: stop treating exploitation as entertainment,” DePaulia Online, MODA | 28

Although the show was about Dahmer’s motives, the creators put a message at the end about how there was race disproportionality and police negligence, which not a lot of true crime shows do.7

The legalities behind creating true crime entertainment seem full of legal jargon and restrictions, but for closed cases, there aren’t many rules past fact-checking, knowing legal limitations like private property and understanding publicity rights.8 However, the line between legal and ethical aspects is thin. When the Dahmer series aired, it contained word-for-word court testimonies from the victims’ families with accuracy down to the outfit. After seeing her name on Netflix, Rita Isbell, sister of one of Dahmer’s victims, said “I don’t need to watch it; I lived it.”

Ted Bundy, played by Zac Efron in the series “The Ted Bundy Tapes,” received volumes of attention online. Bundy abducted and murdered over 20 women, and he was charged with a 15-year sentence for aggravated kidnapping months before being charged with murder.9 Bundy spoke with a journalist when he was on death row in hope of his case getting reopened, and the

Sept. 25, 2022. 7 Mary Phelps, “Netflix sensation ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ sparks controversy,” The Gonzaga Bulletin, Oct. 17, 2022. 8 Mikaela Gross, “Legal and Ethical Considerations for Your True Crime Podcast,” CDAS, Feb. 3, 2020. 9 Tim Ott, “Ted Bundy Killings: A Timeline,” Biography, Aug. 12, 2021. 100 plus hours of audio between the two helped create Netflix’s series.10

Before he was executed on Jan. 24, 1989, Bundy received an abundance of fan mail in prison.11 The BundyPhiles, one of his fan groups, publicly and actively lobbied to get him released.12 Bundy even married a member of the BundyPhiles, Carole Ann Boone, during his murder trial in 1980.13 They were officiated through the court while he was being charged with the murder of a 12-yearold. This group still exists on many sites and has active fans to this day.

The fixation Bundy’s fans had on him has a definition: hybristophilia. Hybristophilia is the sexual interest and attraction to those who commit crimes.14 This fascination with serial killers and true crime can be attributed to humans’ tendencies to be intrigued by dangerous, unknown situations. Fixating on a specific murderer can lead to the romanticization or idolization of them, which can be harmful and potentially unhealthy.15 While watching true crime isn’t inherently bad, obsession can become dangerous.

True crime entertainment narratives are disproportionately dominant, often characterized as “white creators focusing on white victims and white perpetrators.”16 It is no surprise that true crime focuses on white male killers such as Dahmer and Bundy. These narratives shape inaccurate portrayals of crime rates, risks and demographics. The primary victims of true crime stories are often white women, in opposition to the truth that Black women are killed at a higher rate than any other demographic of women.17

While learning about facts, stories and psychological aspects of true crime can be interesting, it can also be unethical and harmful if not created or watched with care. Whether it be a podcast episode or a new Netflix series, researching the content and morality behind true crime is crucial in keeping the lived experiences of victims and perpetrators informative rather than entertaining. ■

10 Rob Harvilla, “Netflix’s ‘Ted Bundy Tapes’ Can’t Put You in His Head,” The Ringer, Jan. 29, 2019. 11 Kristin Canning and Jennifer Nied, “Who Was Ted Bundy’s Wife?,” Women’s Health, Jan. 30, 2020. 12 John Kuroski, “Ted Bundy And The Full Story Behind His Sickening Crimes,” ATI, Sept. 2, 2022. 13 Kristin Canning and Jennifer Nied, “Who Was Ted Bundy’s Wife?,” Women’s Health, Jan. 30, 2020. 14 “APA Dictionary of Psychology,” American Psychological Association, n.d. 15 Coltan Scrivner,”Why We Are Fascinated by Serial Killers,” Psychology Today, May 1, 2022. 16 Lindsey Webb, “True Crime and Danger Narratives,” The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, n.d. 17 Ibid.