These days people are becoming obsessed with true crime, and sometimes the community even gets together to try to solve some of them. What from a forensic standpoint does this do for the criminal justice system? Does social media hinder or hurt?
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I should imagine that social media has both the tendency to hurt or to inform according to the person employing the tech.
I've noticed this trend too, in the proliferation of influncers who present cases of various murders etc. I don't see any obvious downside as long as people are warned before the description so as to avoid any undue stress for watchers.
With that said, any social media has the chance to misinform and decribe crime and the criminal process erroneously. But certainly the channels on TikTok or Youtube seem more interested in descibing the true crime cases rather than spread misinformation.
As you say sometimes a community rises to help solve crimes and this could be really useful. Police forces can often be underfunded and stretched, and thus voluntary work could be useful. However, the drawback is that those who work independently are most likely to be ignorant of procedure, evidence collection and preservation and thus any potential finds might be cast into doubt by the court process.
It's a fascinating talking point though.