Cheat Code for Criminals
Some people believe crime shows to be the resource center for all things criminal. With the inside scoop of what to do (or not to do) in order to quite literally get away with murder, what better place for criminals to find all their deviant information? Well, in reality, a criminal getting all information from cop shows would have a better chance winning the lottery twice than successfully pulling off their heist (sorry to discourage all of you unlawful citizens of the world). 
How accurate are crime shows on TV?
Although many fall subject to the common misconception that crime shows can give too much information to possible criminals, our friends over at Science News reassure us that this theory is far from credited. If you are interested in this popular, but highly accusative and discredited myth, go check out their cite for more details on what they refer to as the ‘CSI Effect.’
Slightly contradictory to our last source, the folks involved at HowStuffWorks believe that although these shows don’t deliver criminals with an instruction manual with play-by-play steps on committing felonies, the series may open their eyes to the importance of things such as forensic evidence. But then again, this is really just common knowledge that any delinquent would already suspect (assuming they’re any good at their day job).
So for shows that discuss everything crime related, and one show literally being named How to Get
Away With Murder (great series btw, would highly suggest), why don’t they encourage criminal behavior? Good question. Well for one, these Crime TV Show Dramas are just that. Dramas. They are made to keep the audience anticipating the subjects next move and obviously highly scripted.
Day One: How to Get Away With Murder
Digital Spy falsifies all aspects of crime television as they ask a forensic assistant for their thoughts on the matter. Sophie Harris, the articles interviewee, expresses her frustration with the lack of protocol observed in these popular shows and explains her preference for true crime shows (another favorite genre of mine). Most police-related series’ are far from accurate since creating a script that follows all requirements of the field would be rather monotonous. 
So if criminals aren’t the target audience of this genre, who is? Why, another good question.
In conversation with my peers, I’ve found that most people who are enticed by the Crime TV Show Dramas are reeled in by the psychological aspects behind the shows. They are people who strive to learn more about the human brain and the triggers for people’s actions. If anything, the audiences of these shows are more likely to become paranoid that they will become victims of crime rather than becoming criminals themselves. Picture Source
I’m even a strong supporter of this claim. I love anything crime related but am far from a delinquent myself. I’m an uptight, anxious, studious young adult who cares deeply about her civic responsibilities. So it checks out when I’ve used this knowledge and interest of the genre to pursue a career in forensic psychology rather than joining the life of crime. Guess TV isn’t all that bad anyhow.
I never fully considered the possibility that criminals would try to learn their craft from crime shows, so it comes as a relief to hear you outline their inaccuracies. However, I have long interpreted these inconsistencies as a double-edged sword. John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight did an excellent breakdown of the negative impacts of inaccurate portrayals of policing found in Law in Order. With that in mind, do you think crime shows can achieve an appropriate balance in realism?
As someone interested in psychology and criminology, I have always found mysteries and crime shows to be intriguing and attention grabbing. I definitely agree that crime shows like these aren’t a helpful source for criminals in the slightest and that they’re created for entertainment rather than to sway people towards the life of crime. Thanks for the blog post!
I feel like a criminal who watches crime shows in order to learn about how to get away with crimes would be a hilarious idea for a crime show.
An interesting read. I recall thinking the same thing when watching a few crime shows myself, but then thought, “This is Holloywood”. If these crime shows truly did help criminals get away with murder, I’m sure the shows would be pulled from the air immediately. This was a nice blog post.
I enjoyed this read, I have also thought that maybe some people watch these shows and get ideas. With that being said, these shows nine times out of ten, show how these people get caught and that they never win in these situations. I think most people like you said watch it for the drama and to maybe even try and solve it themselves with the investigators.
I completely agree with the claim that the audience watching crime shows is primarily people who are fascinated at the underlying psychology. Like you said, no criminal is going to get any good advice on how to commit a crime from these shows because Hollywood isn’t the same as reality. I really enjoyed how you incorporated questions throughout your blog. It supported creating your own voice even while citing claims from several different sources.
Whether or not a budding criminal could actually learn something from these true crime shows has never been a thought that crossed my mind. But now that you mention it, I’m definitely looking at my friends a LOT whenever we watch these shows together haha. One thing I absolutely loved about this blog post was how ‘you’ it sounded. With your use of parenthesis and a much more causal tone accompanied with slang/text talk, it was a rather enjoyable little addition to your writing that made it come alive.
The topic of this post was incredibly interesting! I remember thinking about this topic once or twice, but never really put much thought into how crime shows could be teaching future criminals how to get away with their crimes. Another way to see it, I suppose, is that the criminals featured in all of these crime shows (real or fake), are almost always caught, so even following the methods on screen won’t give aspiring criminals much help. Whenever I watch Criminal Minds, or any other crime show really, I feel like I gain more knowledge on how to avoid crimes and becoming a victim. Even though a lot of these episodes feature made-up scenarios, I definitely have gained so much more street smarts (such as always walking with a buddy at night, if I’m walking somewhere by myself calling someone so they know where I am, etc.). I thought it was interesting that you become afraid of becoming the victim after watching these shows, just because now whenever my family and I watch these shows we can always pinpoint when something is about to go wrong and now know better.