National Crime Junkie Day Date in the current year: December 18, 2025

True crime is a nonfiction genre that encompasses literature, television series, documentaries, podcasts, and internet videos focusing on real criminal cases. These media present the facts of actual crimes and the people involved, including victims, perpetrators, and investigators. Rather than presenting fiction, true crime explores actual events, focusing on what happened, why it happened, and how the criminal was caught or, in some cases, why they were not. True crime works often focus on high-profile cases involving serial killers and unsolved cases.

One of the earliest examples of true crime fiction is The Book of Swindles, a 17th-century Chinese collection of short stories about alleged fraud cases. In the Western world, particularly in Britain, street literature (broadsides, chapbooks, pamphlets, etc.) about murders and other crimes gained popularity in the 16th century as printing became cheaper and literacy increased.

True crime as a literary genre began to emerge in the early 19th century. In 1807, American criminal Henry Tufts published an autobiography widely regarded as the first extensive biography of an American criminal. English essayist Thomas De Quincey, Scottish layer William Roughead, and American librarian Edmund Pearson are widely considered important early true crime authors.

Until the late 20th century, the true crime genre was primarily found in magazines and books. The rise of true crime documentaries began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One of the genre’s earliest influential works was Errol Morris’s 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line, which played a role in exonerating Randall Dale Adams, who had been wrongfully convicted of shooting a police officer in 1977.

True crime podcasts began gaining popularity in the mid-2010s. One of the first to truly break out was Serial, hosted by Sarah Koenig. It ranked number one on iTunes before its debut and set a podcasting record by passing 5 million downloads and streams on iTunes faster than any other podcast.

Another popular true crime podcast is Crime Junkie, hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Debuting in December 2017, it has been released weekly ever since, garnering 10 million weekly listeners. As of 2022, Crime Junkie was the most-listened-to show on Apple Podcasts in the United States and the second-most-listened-to podcast in the country.

In 2022, the team behind Crime Junkie launched National Crime Junkie Day to celebrate the podcast’s fifth anniversary and its dedicated community of listeners. Over time, National Crime Junkie Day has become a celebration for all true crime enthusiasts, highlighting their role in supporting investigations of unsolved crimes and advocating for victims and their families.

There are many ways to celebrate National Crime Junkie Day. You can listen to your favorite true crime podcast, discover new ones, read a true crime book, or watch a documentary. You can also donate to organizations that help solve cold cases and locate missing persons. And don’t forget to spread the word on social media using the hashtag #NationalCrimeJunkieDay.