What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime

by Jennifer Fleetwood

An examination of the increasingly public nature of crime and confession—from live-streamed offenses to Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview—by a noted writer & lecturer in criminology.

Over the past few decades, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime. These personal accounts used to be confined to private or professional settings—the police station, the courtroom, a helpline or in a counselor’s office—but today bookshops heave with autobiographies by prisoners, criminals, police, and lawyers; streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube host hours of interviews with serial killers, death row residents, vigilantes, and gang members; true-crime podcasts like Criminal often feature episodes focusing entirely on one person’s narrative; and some offenders even live-stream their crimes.

In this fascinating new book, British criminologist Jennifer Fleetwood compellingly examines seven high-profile “crimes” which are known to us via a public, first-person account to try to make sense of the social, political, and cultural consequences that this confessional impulse has on our lives. From Howard Marks’s autobiography Mr. Nice to Shamima Begum’s 2019 Times interview; from the documentary The Real Mo Farah to Prince Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview; from Chanel Miller’s victim impact statement to episodes of Criminal and Myra Hindley’s prison letters, Fleetwood invites us to think differently about the abundance of personal stories about crime that circulate in public life.

Genres: Nonfiction

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2024

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engagingly written short book on the way crime is discussed in modern society. It examines a number of high profile cases, mostly ones from the UK, that illustrates various aspects of this. Myra Hindley, Prince Andrew and Shamima Begum may seem like strange bedfellows, but there is somethign to learn from each of their brushes with the legal system.
The central argument is that personal testimony is hugely important in helping us understand crime, but that it always needs to be considered carefully. Jennifer Fleetwood lays this out clearly and effectively, with a very accessible writing style that persuades rather than bludgeons the reader. The book often feels like a conversation with a smart and informed friend, rather than an academic text. Recommended.

[Maartje Paauw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was really well done and laid out. Fleetwood talks about the narratives at play when we talk about crime, the power imbalances in who gets to say something, and what they get to say. It’s written in a way that is accessible to anyone and the academic perspective is told through short stories that still intertwine nicely.

[Cheap.And.Cheerful · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What do we talk about when we talk about crime? We talk about harm, hurt, sometimes pain; we talk about it with outrage, anger and even humour. Often though, we talk about crime through personal stories, and, increasingly, we seem to tell them in public."

True Crime-Formate sind nach wie vor auf einem Peak: unzählige Podcasts, Dokus, Filme, Bücher, Serien erzählen Geschichten wahrer Verbrechen nach, teilweise gemeinsam mit Opfern oder Täter*innen. Auch in den Nachrichten stoßen Berichte über Kriminalität auf ein hohes Interesse - doch welche Art von Erzählungen über Verbrechen sind es, die so viel Aufmerksamkeit erregen? Welche Narrative werden in unserer Gesellschaft erzählt, welche hingegen bleiben unsichtbar?

Jennifer Fleetwood ist Kriminologin und wirft in diesem - leider - kurzem Buch einen Blick auf sieben populäre Erzählungen von wahren Verbrechen und analysiert diese. Darunter sind zum Beispiel Howard Marks berühmte Autobiografie “Mr. Nice”, Mo Farahs Geschichte von Menschenhandel und Sklaverei, Prinz Andrews fragwürdiges Interview zum Epstein-Skandal und, eins meiner Highlights, das viral gegangene Victim Impact Statement von Emily Doe aka Chanel Miller, die sich als Opfer s3xualisierter G3walt massiv gegen Victimblaming zur Wehr gesetzt hat.

Wer sich gerne mit True Crime beschäftigt, wird hier viel lernen: beispielsweise, wann und unter welchen Umständen solche Geschichten überhaupt in die Öffentlichkeit gelangten, wie mediale Berichterstattung, auch Podcasts, die Wahrnehmung von bestimmten Verbrechen prägt und formt, wem wir Authentizität zugestehen und wem nicht.

Ich kann euch dieses Buch wärmstens empfehlen, Fleetwood erklärt Zusammenhänge nachvollziehbar, steckt den Finger in Wunden und zeigt somit strukturelle Probleme auf. Schade, dass es nur so kurz ist, würde gerne mehr von ihr dazu lesen.

CN: Kindesm1ssbrauch, M0rd, Sklaverei, Ras$ismus, Polizeig3walt, s3xualisierte G3walt, Su1zid, Kindst0d

[Taylor Wooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it seemed a bit like something I would listen to a podcast on, and for the most part it didn’t disappoint. It introduced me to some new stories and put new context into others, which made me want to dig deeper and I listened to a full podcast series because of it..

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes incredibly varied, important and well-selected examples of people’s stories and analyses them in a way that’s both accessible and fascinating. It made me think about unreliable narratives and why we tell stories, and who we tell them for. Bravo.

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, non-academese piece on crime, narrative, justice, and the complex effects of law, media, new media, and more. Short and engaging. Mostly pieces on recent events (last decade or so), with one piece about Myra Hindley’s prison autobiographical efforts.