Over Sixty Winter 2022 Digital

8 OPINION WINTER 2022 | OVERSIXTY.COM.AU But the question lingers, what drives this fascination? And secondly, is our absorption in true crime offerings a good or a bad thing? There are a number of reason people are drawn to true crime – part of this comes down to humans’ inherently social nature, as a result of which we are driven to understand the outliers, those who do unthinkable things to others. We need to know why someone would do something so awful, so unimaginable. We are also, secretly, relieved that it didn’t happen to us. The sense that that kind of thing happens to other people, which makes us feel safer. I also think many of us are drawn to mysteries – the real-life who-done-its. That’s why cold cases are particularly popular with true crime fans. And don’t forget the ongoing relevance of the good old-fashioned battle between good and evil; when we’re looking at the worst of the worst, the serial killers and mass murderers who represent the monsters from our nightmares, in these scenarios are pitted against the authorities (the heroes) trying to catch them. But is this obsession a good or a bad thing? Consider Hedley Thomas’s podcast ‘The Teacher’s Pet’, which focuses on the disappearance of Lynette Dawson in January 1982. The podcast has had close to 30 million downloads internationally, and there is no doubt in my mind that the publicity it gained was heavily influential in getting the Director of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales to agree to charge Lynette’s husband, Chris Dawson, with murder in December 2018 – almost 37 years after Lynette vanished. But on the flip side, as I was listening to it, I was very aware that there was a real danger the podcast would derail any future criminal case. And that nearly happened. Dawson pleaded not guilty to murder in February 2020, at which time his legal team applied for a permanent stay of proceedings – meaning the case against DR XANTHÉ MALLETT OPINION T here is no doubt that the general public, and women in particular, are deeply engaged with true crime offerings in all forms – from books to podcasts to documentaries, as well as in studying crime and criminality at university. Over the last 10 years I have seen the numbers of students wanting to study criminology explode, with career aspirations ranging from wanting to join the police, to working with victim-survivor charities, as well as in the policy space around reducing crime. Dawson would never have gone to trial – on the grounds that the pre-trial publicity (namely the podcast and associated public interest), had prejudiced his chances of receiving a fair trial. This appeal was dismissed by the NSW Criminal Appeal Court and a subsequent appeal also dismissed by the High Court. In this case, there was a chance that Dawson would never stand trial. But equally, without the podcast, and the fresh witnesses and their evidence coming forward as part of the podcast, would the DPP have had a sufficient case to charge Dawson in the first place? So, whilst true crime producers can have genuine and positive impacts on criminal cases, they can also cause very significant problems once a suspect is charged. Dawson’s judge-alone murder trial began in Sydney in May 2022. True crime obsession: a double-edged sword OPINION Dr Xanthé Mallett is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Newcastle Criminologist Dr Xanthé Mallett examines our fixation with true crime “We need to know why someone would do something so awful” Lynette Dawson disappeared in January 1982