MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Ogletree and Sarat argue “The way a society punishes demonstrates its commitment to standards of judgment and justice, its distinctive views of blame and responsibility, its understandings of mercy and forgiveness, and its particular ways of responding to evil” (1). The use of podcasts to investigate injustices within the criminal system has ignited new interest in true crime stories and allowed individuals to become armchair detectives.

On October 3, 2014, Serial, a podcast spinoff of This American Life, premiered. The first season of Serial examined the January 13, 1999 murder of Baltimore high school student, Hae Min Lee. Lee’s ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of the murder yet questions of his guilt or innocence remain. On June 1, 2016, the podcast, Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder, premiered at midnight (BST). Untold is a British podcast that investigates the murder of Daniel Morgan, a Welsh private investigator, on March 10, 1987. The unsolved case has been investigated five times—none resulting in justice. Untold has been called the “British Serial” with the level of consumption from the public and the conversations regarding the murder case rivaling that of Serial.

In this presentation, the author provides an overview of the podcasts Serial (seasons one and two) and Untold.. The author argues Serial helped reignite the public interest in true-crime stories which has led to more public deliberations on how crime and punishment is handled as well as discussed in our culture. Further, the author explores how social media, other podcasts, and blogs have encouraged public deliberation on the specific cases presented in Serial and Untold. Additionally, the author investigates how public deliberations on the cases has influenced the criminal justice system.

Ogletree, Jr., Charles J. and Austin Sarat (Eds). Punishment in Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2015. Print.