Television Shows Focusing on Crime

Television shows focusing on crime and punishment have been broadcast nearly as long as we have had television. In the fifties, "Perry Mason" was a popular lawyer who always managed to prove his clients innocent. Later in the century, "Diagnosis: Murder" and "Murder, she wrote were popular shows where the writers tried to trick the viewers into suspecting the wrong person had committed the crimes. More recently, several TV shows have focused on true crimes. The events they depict have actually happened, which gives them an urgency fiction cannot generate. "Cold Case Files" is a particularly interesting show because it is based on true events, it encourages the viewer to try to think as a detective would, and because sooner or later, those who commit the criminal acts portrayed have to take responsibility for what they have done.

The show is based on true crime, not fiction. "Cold Case Files" briefly describes a crime, usually a murder, giving the viewers the basic facts. It then shows the viewers how detectives go about trying to prove who has committed the crime. On this show, they run into dead ends and the case goes "cold," which means that although the detectives have tried to solve it, they have run out of leads. For the format of this show, detectives come back to these "cold" cases years afterwards, start over again, and through diligent work leaving no stone unturned, finally solve the crime.

Cold Case File" episodes draw the viewer in as an armchair detective in a compelling way because the stories are true. No one would like the idea that a loved one could be murdered and the murderer never caught. The detectives who solve these cold cases often come back to them again and again. The viewer is given the evidence they have to work with, and actively thinks about how the truth might be unearthed. Some of these incidents use evidence in new ways: in one episode aired recently, someone killed two people and wounded a dog. They had no human blood on them because they shot the people from some distance, but one shooter did get dog blood on his jacket. Cold case detectives solved the problem with DNA testing, but used dog blood from the dog, who survived. The detectives found out that DNA testing is just as accurate for animals as it is for humans.

The show provides a satisfying feeling that people cannot get away with very serious crimes such as murder, because the detectives simply will not give up until the crime is solved, no matter how long that takes. Such innovative detective work as using the dog's DNA to prove that a specific person had committed a specific crime is creative, and generates a feeling in the viewer that it is very hard to get away with murder. In addition, it gives the viewer increased respect for the work detectives do. In a world that too often seems riddled with serious crime, it is enjoyable to see a clever criminal caught even if it takes years or even decades to complete the task.