MA Student, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, e-mail address: andreea-alina.chirac@s.unibuc.ro.

ABSTRACT

SERIAL KILLERS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MEMBERS OF THE “TRUE CRIME COMMUNITY”. CASE STUDY: YOUNG WOMEN MEMBERS OF “TRUE CRIME” COMMUNITIES FROM ROMANIA

This study presents the process by which audiences of true crime series and members of the online True Crime Community from Romania romanticize serial killers. The research objectives aimed to identify the particularities and sources of the romanticization process and to identify the role of cultural products in the romanticization of criminals. The primary objectives of this research were the following: the identification of particularities and the sources of romanticizing and assessing the impacts of cultural products in the process of romanticizing killers. The research methodology included 13 semi-structure face-to-face interviews with young women, with ages between 20 and 28, past and present consumers of true crime audiovisual productions. The analysis of the interviews allowed the identification of the reasons why young women tend to romanticize serial killers (the life story, the dramatic presentation of the story within the audiovisual production, the complexity of the personality of the criminals), the factors that favor the process of romanticizing criminals and the social consequences of using strategies to create successful audiovisual productions that ultimately romanticize serial killers. At the same time, the process of narrativization makes criminals attractive through operations specific to fiction productions, such as the development of attractive and charismatic characters or the creation of a conflict core and mystery.

Keywords: true crime genre, serial killers, romanticization of criminals, true crime community, Romania.

DOI: 10.59277/RJSoc.2026.3-4.05

Full text