Before prominent South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for double murder on Friday, public attention in the United States on the many twists and turns of the case only intensified.
I steal millions
Investigations into the June 7, 2021 shooting deaths of the wife and son of the scion of a legal dynasty revealed that the prominent lawyer stole millions of dollars from his mostly poor clients and that he planned an attack on his own life so that his surviving son would receive a $12 million life insurance payout, according to authorities.
In the process, true crime buffs, curiously curious and many others found the ultimate object of their fascination in the lengthy unraveling of a mystery that jurors decided in less than three hours after closing arguments at the six-week trial. weeks.
lessons
Experts say the transformation of this small-town saga into a subject of international intrigue reveals insights into the human psyche: People have brain connections that are more attentive to events related to their perceptions of what is a threat.
And now, amid the commotion, some legal observers have found an important opportunity for education.
Coltan Scrivner, a researcher at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, argues that the human desire to avoid being deceived has become a natural curiosity about danger signs.
Those signs, he added, are especially strong when the intrigues involve high-status circles with powerful and successful people — things to which the Murdaugh case is connected.
“We included it in our rolodex of possible simulations of what might happen in a bad situation,” adds Scrivner.
Amanda Vicary, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University in Illinois, says the obsession with “true crime” is largely driven by women interested in its lessons in self-protection.
Many followers of these cases may unconsciously wonder what to look for in their own lives, he explains.
