Daring to Know: Looking at the Body in the New True Crime Magazine

Abstract

As we have seen, true crime literature has been defended and promoted on the grounds that the genre has something unique to say about the shared condition of being human. The appeal of true crime books has been informed by reflexive questions: ‘Do I have the potential for this evil in me too?’ Or, are we all murderers ‘under the skin?’ (Pitman 1961: 50). As seen in the previous chapter, the appeal of even the most ephemeral journalistic accounts of crime is grounded in ‘human interest’, in stories and images of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, either meeting death through murder or capital punishment or meting out death to others. Explicit connections are made between the experiences of readers and the subjects of true crime. Often these stories ask readers directly what they would do in particular circumstances or they connect past crimes with contemporary fears. In this most general sense, then, true crime, like many other narrative forms, aims to speak of the human condition.