On November 13th, four University of Idaho students were mysteriously stabbed to death in their sleep in a house near campus. 

The police would later describe this as a “very complex” case. It took them seven weeks to finally announce the arrest of a criminal justice student in Pennsylvania. However, this was not the end of the investigation. 

The Idaho murder quickly became a case that was known worldwide with responses from thousands of people. This tragedy has brought light to the recent interest people have taken in the true crime genre.

For better or for worse, students have been hooked on true crime. Over the past couple of years, this genre has blown up, and the Idaho murder only increased interest. 

Schools started to include crime courses in their curriculum as well. Northern Valley Demarest offers multiple courses such as Crimes of the Century, Detective Fiction, and Forensic Science. 

Forensic science is the application of science to the law, and Mrs. Gill, the forensics teacher, has noticed an increase in the popularity of true crime. Gill took over the course in 2010, and “On average, I have four sections of Forensics each year, which translates to approximately 100 students. Some years we had five sections (one year we had six), but most years I have four,” Mrs. Gill said. 

What sparked this sudden interest in crime? Mrs. Gill believes that pop culture plays a big role in current interests. 

“There is always a new TV show like “Dexter “, “CSI “, or a Netflix series (like the one starring Zac Efron about Ted Bundy) that peaks people’s interest,” Mrs. Gill said. 

In fact, the new Jeffrey Dahmer series, which documents the life of an American serial killer, received four nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards and spent seven weeks as Netflix’s top 10. 

Maya Rahav, a senior at NVD, has been interested in pursuing criminology in the future. She actually watched documentaries about Ted Bundy and OJ Simpson. Rahav says these shows “inspired” her to prevent cases like these. 

Audiences seem to love true crime because of their morbid curiosity. Everybody wants to feel like they can solve a crime like they can be a hot-shot detective. 

“When murders happen I always wonder how they happen, I always ask the questions,” Rahav said. “I ask the questions that people don’t usually ask because they get sensitized to issues.”

True crime has had a huge impact on students. Not only do they enjoy the genre, but some students have taken a deeper interest into crime, due to this genre, and would like to pursue criminology in the future. 

Shir Eilam, a senior at NVD, is majoring in criminal justice and psychology at Northeastern next year. Eilam has been interested in criminal justice since she was very young and really knew she wanted to pursue it at the end of her freshman year when she took a summer course at NYU about criminal justice. The media is actually Shir’s “biggest influence” in criminology. 

“When I was younger, I loved watching the news and reading articles,” Eilam said. “All of those real-life tragic stories have cultivated my passion for criminal justice and developed my will to improve the system in my future.” 

Crime culture’s new popularity is much more than just a genre. People like Shir are not only interested in this but really want to help people. True crime has become an attraction that inspires people to make a difference.