Making a genre: the case of the contemporary true crime documentary

This article looks at the current documentary obsession with true crime stories, arguing that ultimately this heterogeneous series of individual texts loosely constitute a genre. Bookended by The Staircase from 2004 (the genre's touchstone or foundational text) and Making a Murderer from 2015 (the genre's most notorious example to date), this discussion will look at a diverse range of examples (series, podcasts, one-off documentaries) that nevertheless share common concerns around the law and how it can be represented, the truth, evidence and miscarriages of justice. Examples discussed also include: The Kick (2005), The 10th District Court (2006), Serial (2014) and The Jinx (2015). Even the title sequences are beginning to resemble each other – and those of related drama series – posing more questions about generic and media identity. True crime documentaries are hugely popular; they also serve justice, in that several of these television series, podcasts and web broadcasts have had a direct impact on actual cases.