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True crime is gruesome. There is no doubt about it, but listening to it is not just a guilty pleasure or junk entertainment.
True crime offers a thrill, allows you to tap into curiosity and serves as entertainment, but that’s not all it’s good for. Listening to true crime can actually educate you in ways a classroom often doesn’t.
Take the Morbid podcast, hosted by Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley. Urquhart spent years working as an autopsy technician, and she brings that background directly into the show by explaining decomposition, pathology and how bodies are examined. Beyond forensics, Morbid digs into the history of each case: what each individual’s life looked like at the time, and how investigation, technology, media and social factors have changed since.
I remember listening to an episode titled “The Murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes.” It covered the tragic 1989 Long Island neighborhood murder of 13-year-old Kelly Ann Tinyes. From this listen, I learned how a singular horrific act can completely tear a tight-knit community apart.
True crime doesn’t only teach you history and forensics; it also teaches listeners to recognize danger in real time in their own lives. Listening to true crime sharpens your awareness. You become more familiar with grooming and manipulation tactics, hear how abductions actually happen and learn how to recognize warning signs in relationships that escalate to violence.
Now that I frequently listen to true crime, I’ve realized not all tragedies are the result of strangers — someone close to you could hurt you, too. I have also noticed myself triple-checking locks, pretending to talk on the phone when alone and holding a key between my knuckles when approaching my car.
You may say that sounds like paranoia. But in the state of our society, I say it’s caution.
There is common pushback about true crime: Constantly listening to dark information can put you in a bad headspace. This is true if you don’t set restrictions for yourself. If you stay up until 4 a.m. every night and watch bodycam footage, listen to horrific stories and analyze every gruesome detail of these tragedies, it will affect your daily life.
Narrative storytelling can make difficult information easier to process and remember. While true crime is a heavy topic, some podcast hosts use a comfortable tone and sprinkle stories with humor so the subject matter doesn’t get too brutal, which keeps listeners engaged without becoming desensitized or overwhelmed.
It also must be noted that some coverage of cases may shed less light on the victims involved. That’s not what I’m defending. There are plenty of true crime podcasts wherein the hosts do extensive research to properly honor the victims by refraining from sharing too much personal information about those affected. Well-made true crime ensures victims are treated as real people, not plot devices.
Voices for Justice, hosted by Sarah Turney, prioritizes shifting the power dynamic within the narrative of each case, treating the victims as complex humans rather than public figures or spectacles. On the podcast, Turney shares the victim’s lives prior to the crimes, speaks directly with family members and directs listeners toward group action. Turney started the show because her sister Alissa went missing from Phoenix in 2001 at age 17. She’s not an outsider covering crime; she’s a family member of a victim.
Hearing what these people’s lives were like before tragedy is heartbreaking, but it forces you to become a more empathetic person. Caring about a stranger’s life makes you pay more attention to the people in your own.
True crime should be consumed in moderation, but I highly recommend you do research, find a podcast that respects the victims and give it a listen. It will teach you about yourself and your surroundings in ways you’d never expect.
Reach Charlotte Seymour at letters@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
