While Coccio eventually left the subreddit, many others remained. Dawn Cecil, professor of criminology at the University of South Florida and author of Fear, Justice & Real Modern Crime, saying that many people who participate in crime forums actually have “the good intention of helping solve a crime or find a missing person”; Some also want to draw attention to the flaws of justice and question the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
However, Cecil warns that crime forums can actually become reflex chambers that feed pre-existing fears or reinforce pre-existing beliefs. Consuming real crime, as she shows in her book, can also distort people’s perceptions of crime and reinforce stereotypes.
It can also lead people to things they regret. Marcus is a 42-year-old man from Seattle who joined Reddit entirely so he could post on r/serialpodcast. At first he found it “fun”, but during his time there he was verbally attacked as well as mocked – a stranger from the subreddit once called him at work. (He asked WIRED not to use his real name for private purposes.) He said he’s seen “some of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen on the internet” thanks to his interest. he comes Serial case.
Meghan, a 30-year-old nurse from Washington who asked WIRED not to use her last name, has spent seven years on the sub out of “habit”. She enjoyed the “interesting” early days when people regularly posted new discoveries and said that chatting with strangers over the years has been very beneficial. “At this point, some of the other long-running posters feel a bit like old friends, even the ones I fight for the most,” she said. But the personal attacks on the sub also added to Meghan’s anxiety, and she has also come to reassess her attitude towards real crime.
She said: “I’m ashamed and embarrassed that I’ve come back to this side so gleefully to see density-related documents and so on, without fully assuming the victim is a real person. “A teenager died; The lives of many other teenagers have been completely fruitless… It’s all just sad. And I think that has had an effect on my mental health.”
Two years ago, Marcus took a step back from r/serialpodcast. “It’s been really bad for my mental health to argue the same arguments,” he said. When Syed was released from prison last month, Marcus was back on r/serialpodcast—but he imagines it won’t be long. Meghan says she will stop consuming Serial comment if Syed is don’t try again. For others, true crime forums remain tantalizing spaces—where communities have been forged and answers seem to be just around the corner.
While writing this article, Dahmer to be top English program on Netflix, reports that about 56 million households have watched the series. Streaming service set to premiere A Conversation with a Murderer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tape on Friday.
