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Theoretical Criminology
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Crime legends in a new medium

Fact, fiction and loss of authority

Pamela Donovan

Medical and Health Research Association of New York City and National Development and Research Institutes

This article explores the persistence of the ‘crime legend’ genre. A case study approach was used, and three crime legends with a considerable history of public debunking were chosen: the market in snuff films; the theft of vital organs for black-market transplant; and the abduction of children from theme park restrooms. Current versions circulating in Internet newsgroups were collected, discussions in Internet newsgroups were examined, and participants were interviewed. Most ‘believers’ engaged in conditional or instrumental forms of belief, finding them useful as truths regardless of their basis in conventional evidence. This situation suggests that rumors and legends can be sustained in the absence of fervent or strictly literal believers. The study also revealed that specific legends are deployed to adapt to generalized fear, resulting from a sense of ‘ontological insecurity.’ Following Giddens’ formulation, this insecurity is intertwined with distrust stemming from uncertain relationships between the individual and the state.

Key Words: belief • crime • Internet research • rumor • urban legends

Theoretical Criminology, Vol. 6, No. 2, 189-215 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/136248060200600204
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