We read news regularly. Be it on any form of social media, we particularly check the crime news. Why does crime news attract us so much? Why do we go into every detailing of the incident? Are we planning on committing any crime?

We are the common masses. We do not have any intentions of murdering anyone or hurting anyone physically for that matter. Though our blood boils at some of the experiences that we have and gives us nightmares very often to force us into feeling “I will kill you” kind of thing, we are not actually murderous. But we do enjoy watching and reading all that shouts “crime”.

Is this attitude wrong? Is watching or reading about crime bad or does it reveal the villain in us? Let us see what experts say about this. As per the experts who have studied long time to reach to a conclusion about the effect of crime on people or about the interest of people in crime-it is perfectly normal and healthy. Experts say that most of the people who are attracted to crime news are not actually criminal. In fact if a person is not affected at all by details of a certain time, there is something missing in him.

On the other hand if a person is obsessed by crime, for eg. if his or her room, cupboard, table, walls etc. shout crime all the time, then of course, it is not healthy. It becomes a matter of concern. The obsession a person has for crime is very likely to show the criminal side, the person may be a psycho, and an assessment needs to be made about the enormity of crime and the person’s fascination for it.

Why crime and not anything else? The experts have assessed this situation for long and understood that we have been exposed to crime since the day media came into existence. Psychologists have, after long hours of researches, stated that “We have been bombarded with crime since the ‘50s, and it probably came into real fruition since the 70’s. Our fascination with crime is equalled by our fear of crime. The media understands, if it bleeds, it leads.” (taken from sources).

The psychologist also said, “Violent predatory crimes against people go to the top of list.” The public also has a fascination for serial killers. It was stated that “public simply cannot look away even if the actions of the serial killer may be horrible to behold.”

A source also says that “if all the theories of the crime are valid, then it follows that a criminal can fulfil his social function if the rest of the world knows what exactly outrages him to commit the crime and how he punishes the people.”

Let us also note that women are more attracted to crime stories as women fear becoming the target of some criminal. They read stories so that they can stay prepared and defend themselves against an attacker (women are the most attacked of all people by the psychos). We also read crime and feel thankful that we are not the victims, which give us a great sense of relief, but of course, we look for instructions to stay prepared.

Crime sells. It gives ounces of stuff to read, as many people on this earth that many ways of committing crime. (I read through various sources to create this short summary of why people first jump to crime news. Readers’ opinions may differ).