In the recent decade, true crime tv shows, books, movies and even podcasts have skyrocketed. Therefore, it is only obvious to assume that the audience that is attracted by this kind of content has increased, or maybe they remain the same but they just have more ways to access the content. Myself included. However, it is important to analyze impact this may have on our society.
I believe, it is very important to keep yourself informed: watching/reading the news, seeing the trending topics on social media platforms, or any other way that may please you. Howbeit, there's a difference between reading a true crime news story to keep yourself informed and doing it for your own entertainment. Nowadays, people feel entertained with true crime since the media turned it into a mental chewing gum: it's everywhere, accessible and thanks to the media not very hard to process. It has come to a point where serial killers are sometimes praised for their intelligence, and some people even get tattoos fof their faces. What does this end up in? Desensitization. We've become a numb receptor, unless the crime involves a child (or a woman sometimes). But, when a man is the victim, only a few remain concerned. We are more fascinated by who did it, and how they did it, instead of trying to answer what really matters: why did they do it? Some people believe that the answer to this questions remains as simple as: for pleasure, obviously the perpetrator is a psycho. I wish it was that simple, but it isn't...Not all psychopaths are criminal, and not all criminals are psychopaths.
So, why is it important to find the answer? to find the reason? Well, that answer can be simple: to prevent it. Once we know the reasons, we know which problems we should target, what strategies we should apply in order to prevent it from happening again. Preventing will eradicate all crime? Probably not, but it will delete a possibility for future criminal behavior. It will stop someone from killing, stealing, or raping; it will decrease crime rates. Moreover, it will also turn us, the potential victims, into more cautious human beings. When there is no potential victim or perfect victim, the crime cannot happen (seriously, it's one of the principles of a criminology theory).
To sum up, I believe we have to take advantage of all this true crime fascination, but do it in the right way and not just throwing the stories out there for entertainment. The crime needs to be analyzed, it needs to deepen the understanding of the audience and work in a positive way to make our society better.