Title: 12 Reasons We Love True Crime, According to the Experts | Mental Floss
Headings: 12 Reasons We Love True Crime, According to the Experts
12 Reasons We Love True Crime, According to the Experts
1. Because being obsessed with true crime is normal (to a point).
2. Because evil fascinates us.
3. Because of the 24/7 news cycle ...
4. … And because we can’t look away from a “trainwreck.”
5. Because it helps us feel prepared.
6. Because there might be an evolutionary benefit.
7. Because we’re glad we’re not the victim.
8. Because we’re glad we’re not the perpetrator.
9. Because it gives us an adrenaline rush.
10. Because we’re trying to solve the mystery.
11. Because we like to be scared … in a controlled way.
12. Because the storytelling is good—and comforting.

Content: And because we can’t look away from a “trainwreck.” “Serial killers tantalize people much like traffic accidents, train wrecks, or natural disasters," Scott Bonn, professor of criminology at Drew University and author of Why We Love Serial Killers, wrote at TIME. " The public’s fascination with them can be seen as a specific manifestation of its more general fixation on violence and calamity. In other words, the actions of a serial killer may be horrible to behold but much of the public simply cannot look away due to the spectacle.” In fact, the perpetrators of these crimes might serve an important societal role, as true crime writer Harold Schechter explained to Hopes & Fears. " That crime is inseparable from civilization—not an aberration but an integral and even necessary component of our lives—is a notion that has been advanced by various thinkers," including Plato, Sigmund Freud, and Émile Durkheim, he said. " If such theories are valid (and they have much to commend them), then it follows that criminals can only fulfill their social function if the rest of the world knows exactly what outrages they have committed and how they have been punished—which is to say that what the public really needs and wants is to hear the whole shocking story." 5. Because it helps us feel prepared. According to Megan Boorsma in Elon Law Review [ PDF ], studies of true crime have shown that people tend to focus on threats to their own wellbeing.