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If Coccio eventually left the subreddit, many others remained. Dawn Cecil, professor of criminology at the University of South Florida and author of Fear, Justice & Modern True Crimestates that many of the active users in the forums devoted to real crimes have “good intentions, they would really like to help solve a crime or find a missing person“. Some also want to draw attention to judicial errors and question the effectiveness of the criminal system. However, Cecil warns that real crime forums can become sound boxes that feed fears or reinforce pre-existing beliefs. Being overly interested in the most serious crimes, as he explains in his book, can also alter the perception of crime and reinforce stereotypes.
The hidden price of the true crime
The phenomenon can also lead people to do things they regret. Marcus is a 42-year-old from Seattle who joined Reddit just to be able to post on r / serialpodcast. At first he found it “fun“, but then it was verbally assaulted and even denigrated; once a subreddit user even called him to work. Marcus (invented name, user asked to remain anonymous) claims to have seen “some of the most creepy things ever to appear on the internet“because of his interest in the cases exposed by Serial.
Meghan, a 30-year-old nurse from Washington, spent seven years on the subreddit for “habit“. He found “exciting“the early days, when people regularly posted new discoveries, and claims that chatting with strangers over the years has been beneficial.”After a long time, talking to some longtime users is a bit like hearing old friends, even the ones I fight the most with. “, he reveals. But the personal attacks on the subreddit add to Meghan’s anxiety, which has come to re-evaluate his attitude towards real crimes.
“I am ashamed that I felt in a good mood when I returned to attend the forum. I feel embarrassed to have browsed through the autopsy documents with curiositywithout fully considering the fact that the victim was a real person – confesses -. A teenager died; the lives of many other teenagers have been completely turned upside down … she is very sad. And I believe this activity damages my mental health“.
Two years ago, Marcus took his distance from r / serialpodcast: “It had become really detrimental to my mental health to keep staring at those topics“, he admits. When Syed was released from jail last month, Marcus went back to attending r / serialpodcast, but he can’t imagine staying long. Meghan says she will stop following. Serial if Syed it will not be processed again. For others, however, i forum on real crimes they remain intriguing places of confrontation, where communities are created and answers seem to be around the corner.
At the moment, Dahmer and the Netflix’s most viewed series. The digital platform, which reports that around 56 million families have watched the series, is ready to increase the dose: the documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Dahmer Case has been on the streaming service since October 7th.
This article originally appeared on Wired UK. Lorenza Negri contributed.
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