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Among the many many many websites that I patronize or partake of (in my quite broad range of intellectual interests), my interest in criminology/forensics/true crime was well-addressed by what is now the former Crime Library website. According to Wikipedia:
Crime Library was a website documenting major crimes, criminals, trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books. It was founded in 1998 and was most recently owned by truTV, a cable TV network that is part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System. As of August 2014, Crime Library was no longer providing updates on their website. As of 2015, the site is no longer accessible (being taken offline).
Crime Library was founded by Marilyn J. Bardsley in January 1998. Court TV, later truTV, purchased Crime Library in 2001. Originally "The Crime Library," the name of the site was shortened to Crime Library in 2003 to accompany a redesign that changed the site's color scheme and layout.
Crime Library contained an extensive collection of crime related articles, which were separated into categories: "Serial Killers", "Notorious Murders", "Criminal Mind", "Terrorists & Spies, "and "Gangsters & Outlaws". Each category was then broken down into further subcategories. For example, within "Serial Killers" were the subcategories "Most Notorious", "Sexual Predators", "Truly Weird & Shocking", "Unsolved Cases", "Partners in Crime" and "Killers from History". Crime Library also featured photo galleries. These may have had anywhere from 10 to upwards of 100 slides. Some photo galleries were focused on a specific case, while others were lists of crimes linked by a theme (e.g., "Baby for Sale," cases where a person was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell his or her child), or collections of unusual booking photos.
High-profile crimes in the United States were prominent on Crime Library, but the site also contained information about historically notorious characters from various countries, including United Kingdom, Australia and France.
All articles on Crime Library were written exclusively for Crime Library by dozens of commissioned writers, many of them true-crime authors, including Chuck Hustmyre, Katherine Ramsland, Gary C. King and Anthony Bruno.
Crime Library maintained social media features where readers could interact and discuss criminal cases, including a Facebook page, a Twitter account and message boards.
The point is that it appears that NO OTHER WEBSITE comes close (to my present knowledge) of matching the breadth, width, scope, and depth of coverage of "Crime Library" and how well the articles were written and constructed. It was a very valuable tool to enhance one's understanding of the criminal mind (though I can imagine there are any number of persons who simply looked upon such a website as "mere entertainment" for them rather than to use it in the pursuit of intellectual understanding for its own sake . . . finding themselves "entertained", in an emotionally-detached manner, by vicariously reading about the misfortunes of others).
A cursory search for other alternative websites to take the place of "Crime Library" (doing a Google search) didn't turn up anything that was really in the league of "Crime Library" in its breadth, width, scope, and depth of coverage of "Crime Library" and in how well the articles are written and constructed. Are any of you former followers or frequenters of the former "Crime Library" website? And are you disappointed in its demise or do you just take it as a passing event and don't really care one way or the other? And do YOU personally know of or have come across any alternatives to or replacements for the former "Crime Library" that are really anywhere in the league of the former "Crime Library" website?
A loss for True Crime readers. Theres value to
unbiased articles;
stating facts leaving out conjecture and referenced articles for discussion on the forum.
A loss for True Crime readers. Theres value to
unbiased articles;
stating facts leaving out conjecture and referenced articles for discussion on the forum.
Any ideas on reasons for departure?
The story behind Crime Library's closing is covered, as one example, in the following web article:
Behind Crime Library, personal pain and true horror
By Aja Romano
Thanks for posting....
Reporting crimes she found 'unbelievably depressing', understandable. How would mentally creating psychopathy for fictional crime not have the same effect Whether real or imagined?
Thanks for posting....
Reporting crimes she found 'unbelievably depressing', understandable. How would mentally creating psychopathy for fictional crime not have the same effect Whether real or imagined?
I personally knew someone (a woman) who, 9 years after I had known her, she became the first (or allegedly first) victim of a now-known and imprisoned serial killer (with her being killed and dismembered by him in 1989). Yet I didn't learn until 2006 that she had been reported as "missing" by a relative in 2001 yet was incorrectly reported as having been last seen by someone in 1995 (although it turns out she had been murdered in 1989). And then it wasn't until 2013 that bodily remains of hers that had been found in 1989 were finally identified as belonging to her. So, to read the details about this particular serial killer and what he did, to hear him speak about it in recorded interviews (from his prison), etc. is not just a detached and dispassionate academic exercise for me. The events are personalized for me . . . whereas, when you know none of the players in a particular notorious crime story, you can just read about it or watch TV, videos, or movies about it and feel wholly detached from it all.
The point is that I guess the founder of "Crime Library", after having gotten personally involved with or exposed to those involved in various notorious crime cases (either the victims or the survivors of the victims or the perpetrators, or whomever) and having this happen to her multiple times, felt personally impacted and affected and she came to feel that she just couldn't do this any longer and maintain her sanity and mental health.
A loss for True Crime readers. Theres value to
unbiased articles;
stating facts leaving out conjecture and referenced articles for discussion on the forum.
Any ideas on reasons for departure?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lucky2balive
I used to go there all the time...haven't been in about 3 months...love true crime but needed a break...it will be missed
Quote:
Originally Posted by st33lcas3
Used to frequent this site back when CourtTV still ran it. There is a lot of knowledge there that is going to be lost. *sad face*
I wonder if some other party (e.g., an academic or research organization or institute devoted to criminology and forensics, another media organization, a publishing and media conglomerate) will ever offer to buy out its content and revive the site?
A loss for True Crime readers. Theres value to
unbiased articles;
stating facts leaving out conjecture and referenced articles for discussion on the forum.
There is indeed a great deal of value in unbiased articles. I only wish I could include the offerings from "Crime Library" among them. Anyone who has spent any time reading through it should notice right away that it's not only biased, but that its amateur prose was designed for the masses. I will offer credit for being comprehensive, it certainly included a large number of cases. To suggest, however, that perusing it serves as an intellectual pursuit would likely say more about me than the library itself.
I wonder if some other party (e.g., an academic or research organization or institute devoted to criminology and forensics, another media organization, a publishing and media conglomerate) will ever offer to buy out its content and revive the site?
Possible.
Googling Crime Library, a site 'Crime Library/ Crime Museum' comes up. No indication other than site title. Articles are only brief overviews, so there may no connection. Just wishful thinking.
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