Why America Is Obsessed With True Crime

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

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4.7 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

More To The Story: John J. Lennon thinks true crime is exploitative—and he has a unique perspective. In 2001, he killed a man on a street in New York City. He was convicted of murder several years later and given the maximum sentence—25 years to life in prison—on top of three additional years for two other convictions. From behind bars, he began reckoning with his crime through in-prison writing workshops and soon fell in love with journalism. He’s since made a name for himself as an incarcerated journalist and has been published in The Atlantic, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, often writing about the criminal justice system and conditions in correctional facilities, all from the inside. In the decades Lennon’s been behind bars, America has become increasingly fixated on stories like his—true crime—through endless podcasts, documentary series, and streaming shows. But Lennon argues that tragedy is too often being turned into entertainment. True crime “creates this thirst for punishment,” he says. On this week’s More To The Story, Lennon joins with host Al Letson to discuss how his first book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us, inverts the basic structure of the true crime genre. They also discuss how his portrayal on a cable news show hosted by Chris Cuomo inspired him to write the book and how Lennon now views the murder he committed almost a quarter-century ago.

Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

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Listen: In a Mississippi Jail, Inmates Became Weapons (Reveal)

Read: There Are Many Programs Trying to Reduce Recidivism. This One Works. (Mother Jones)

Read: The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us (Celadon Books)

Read: A Convicted Murderer’s Case for Gun Control (The Atlantic)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm like I did a pretty terrible thing.
0:03.3	I shot a man 10 times.
0:06.7	I was deeply immersed in this lifestyle.
0:09.8	I reckon with that on the page and people, you know, read my stuff.
0:14.7	And there's a way that I connect with them and count for what I did.
0:20.7	Coming up on more to the story, as true crime remains as popular as ever, journalist John
0:26.1	J. Lennon argues the genre too often capitalizes on tragedy, and he should know.
0:32.3	He's not only a writer, but is currently serving time in Sing Sing Correctional Facility for
0:37.3	Homicide. Stay with us. but is currently serving time in Sing Sing Correctional Facility for homicide.
0:38.3	Stay with us.
0:39.3	John J. Lennon is a journalist currently serving his 20th century. This is more to the story. I'm Al Letson.
0:55.1	John J. Lennon is a journalist currently serving his 24th year in New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
1:01.9	Convicted of murder in 2004, John was sentenced to 25 years to life. He was already serving three years on other convictions.
1:10.5	While he was in prison, he reckoned with his
1:12.5	crime and discovered his voice through journalism. Over the last decade, he's written for the Atlantic,
1:18.7	Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, all while being behind bars. From inside, he watched as
1:25.1	Americans became infatuated with stories like his and the growing
1:29.1	genre of true crime.
1:31.5	Tragedy, he believed, was too often being turned into entertainment.
1:35.5	John's first book is the tragedy of true crime, four guilty men and the stories that define
1:40.9	us.
1:41.9	It's a brutally honest account of murderers, including himself, told from the
	...

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