Our Fascination with Criminals

(image by mansurtlyakov1 on pixabay)

As my husband sits watching yet another true crime show about some murderer, I am left wondering what this fascination is about. I mean, my husband is an average, normal guy so why does he waste his time glorifying these horrible people who ruin the lives of others? This only feeds into the fame machine, when publishers and filmmakers come knocking to offer wads of cash to glorify their sordid lives.

I think we are all secretly afraid that if we turn a screw slightly inside our minds, everything would change and we could turn as dark as these criminals. Perhaps we have all felt moments in our lives when we have behaved badly and someone else got hurt. Perhaps we have known someone who left us feeling uneasy, like they might do something very dangerous or bad if they didn’t get help. I once taught a child who was caught hurting animals, so we threw every counseling, mentoring, family support, and professional intervention at him hoping to improve his outcomes. Unfortunately, as a teacher, we seldom hear how they turn out as adults.

Do we actually take pleasure in watching these stories play out on film or listening to them on podcasts? Perhaps we feel some satisfaction in knowing they got their just deserts because they wound up in prison. My husband loves watching the prison environment because of its lack of rules. It’s a place where the perpetrators finally get treated as harshly as their victims were. There seems to be an unspoken acceptance of an eye for an eye justice, at least in American institutions. We are shown very little of any positive rehabilitation, which is sad. (Check out Scandinavian prisons to see an opposing view.)

So how do you feel about true crime shows? Are you drawn to them or repulsed by them? Please subscribe / share a comment below.