Although I don’t know where it began, at the age of 33 I have learned that I don’t need to apologise for it anymore. I love true crime.
I am what you would call a murderino.
In 2010, the journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science published a paper about a study that was conducted to see whether it was men or women that gravitated towards true crime. The paper, Captured by true crime: Why women are drawn to tales of rape, murder and serial killers found that 70% of reviews on the genre were posted by women.
If I took part in that study I would have been one of the many women that would have answered yes.
My earliest memory of a true crime show was watching Forensic Files on the Discovery Channel. This was way back when I was around 13 years old. I remember my mum hated me watching these shows, it came to that stage that I would watch the show in secret. I don’t know what it was but I was fascinated by how the police used forensics to catch a killer. I don’t remember the case but I do remember the husband was shot in the head while sitting in the chair. They used lasers to show the protectory of the bullets.
Over the years, I have always loved watching crime, whether it be fiction or nonfiction. As my love for nonfiction has grown so has my love for true crime. I was a weekly viewer of the Australia police show, Blue Healers. Not long after that, I remember getting into The Bill. Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8:30pm – I was sorted. When I went into high school I distinctly remember two shows; Forensic Investigators (which was hosted by Lisa McCune, who also starred in Blue Healers) as well as Crime Investigations Australia (hosted by Steve Liebmann) being must watch teenage viewing for me. I once said that my dream job was to be a Forensic Scientist, now I realise that I couldn’t do it because of logistics; however, that doesn’t stop me from writing about them. Finally, there was a science unit I took at school called Forensic Science, which of course I loved.
Though I am no expert from my experience, I love people watching and am intrigued by human nature and behavior. I think this in part, has to do with my disability. The fact that I couldn’t do everything – I would love watching the world. As I have gotten older I understand that watching true crime allows me to delve into the depravity of what people can do. Having had personal experience with being on the receiving end of some horrible stuff I can truly believe that people can get that nasty.
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