True crime has always captivated audiences worldwide, but at what point do these shows blur the line between humans and monsters?

Over recent years interest in true crime documentaries has increased with shows like “Dahmer” and “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” at the top of watch lists.  The Menendez Netflix series portrays two brothers, labelled as “monsters,” whose traumatic childhood pushed them to murder their parents.

While the show sheds light on a case that hasn’t been in the public eye for more than 30 years, critics have said it is riddled with inaccuracies and exaggerations to appeal to its wide audience. The day of the show’s premiere, Erik Menendez released a statement through his wife Tammi Menendez’s X account slamming the show’s misleading portrayal of the relationship between him and his brother, Lyle Menendez. Throughout its nine episodes, the show depicted the brothers as having a sexual relationship, which they denied and was deemed unlikely by experts.

“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward,” Erik Menendez said in his statement. “Back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”

This interpretation only reflects the lengths shows’ creators go to draw in an audience. The show “Dahmer” included the false claim that the killer stole and drank bags of blood when he worked as a phlebotomist at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center.

Millions of people rely on these producers to only give truth in true crime documentaries, taking everything on the screen as real. But with this responsibility, many producers still invoke creative liberties in the story, altering history and eventually damaging the real people involved in the case. Not only does this harm the watchers but it also damages the reputation of other documentary producers who tell only confirmed truths in their films.

But even though these shows leave viewers with a slightly warped sense of the characters’ real lives, they can also draw attention

to them in ways that sometimes are beneficial.

I’m sure many of us have heard of the Menendez brothers because of the Netflix show; even celebrities have, like Kim Kardashian, who spoke on the case.

“The trial and punishment these brothers received were more befitting a serial killer than two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse by the very people they loved and trusted,” Kardashian said on her Instagram. “I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case.”

And now, after the resurgence of popularity surrounding their case, it’s possible that the brothers will be released soon. Because even though the show unfairly portrayed the two in terrible ways that perpetuate harmful myths, it might eventually be the reason the Menendez brothers become free men again.