Criminal (podcast)

Criminal (podcast)
Vox Media · Public domain · source
Show name	Criminal
Format	True crime, narrative journalism
Creator	Phoebe Judge, Lauren Spohrer, Eric Mennel
Starring	Phoebe Judge
Language	English
Updates	Irregular
Episodes	300+
Began	2014

Criminal (podcast) is an American narrative podcast focusing on true crime stories, human behavior, and legal irregularities. Hosted by Phoebe Judge and produced by a team including Lauren Spohrer and Eric Mennel, the series explores crimes, unusual incidents, and historical misdeeds through interviews, archival research, and sound design. The program has influenced contemporary audio storytelling and intersected with journalism outlets, public radio institutions, and documentary filmmakers.

Overview

The series launched in 2014 with connections to independent audio producers and public media institutions such as WUNC, WBUR, NPR, This American Life, and Radiotopia. Its production draws on reporting practices found at outlets like ProPublica, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Washington Post. Host Phoebe Judge, whose voice has been noted alongside broadcasters from BBC Radio 4, CBC Radio, and PRI, guides listeners through narratives that involve figures and institutions including Al Capone, Bernie Madoff, Elizabeth Holmes, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, O. J. Simpson, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Bonnie and Clyde, Alfred Hitchcock, John Dillinger, Harry Houdini, Lindbergh kidnapping, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Martha Stewart, Lance Armstrong, Edward Snowden, Mark Zuckerberg, El Chapo, Pablo Escobar, Machiavelli, Salem witch trials, Charles Manson, H. H. Holmes, Black Dahlia, Zodiac Killer, Jack the Ripper, J. Edgar Hoover, RMS Titanic, Titanic raising, Chernobyl disaster, September 11 attacks, Watergate scandal, Kent State shootings, Waco siege, Ruby Ridge, Boston Marathon bombing, Amanda Knox, Sacco and Vanzetti, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, Marie Curie, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Wright brothers.

Format and Production

Episodes typically run 20–45 minutes and combine narration, interviews, and archival audio in a model similar to programs from This American Life, Serial (podcast), Reply All, 99% Invisible, and Radiolab. Production involves research practices used by newsrooms like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and documentary units tied to PBS Frontline, BBC Panorama, and Vice News. The show's team has collaborated with audio engineers and composers who have worked on projects for HBO, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, and indie labels such as NPR Music and Atlantic Records. Executive producers have navigated intellectual property and ethics debates similar to those faced by creators at ProPublica, The Intercept, The Marshall Project, Human Rights Watch, and ACLU.

Episodes and Seasons

The catalog includes single-episode stories, multi-part investigations, and thematic specials that echo serialized journalism like Serial (podcast), serialized documentary series such as Making a Murderer, and limited-run shows like S-Town. Episodes have profiled historical events and personalities linked to institutions including FBI, CIA, MI6, Interpol, United Nations, Supreme Court of the United States, International Criminal Court, New York Stock Exchange, Federal Reserve, U.S. Capitol, Hollywood, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Harvard University, Yale University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. Special seasons have examined themes comparable to investigations by Ken Burns, Errol Morris, Ava DuVernay, Alex Gibney, and Sarah Koenig.

Reception and Impact

Critics and cultural commentators from publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Variety, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Slate, Pitchfork, Wired, The Verge, Time (magazine), and Newsweek have discussed its storytelling, ethics, and aesthetics. The podcast has influenced creators across audio and visual media including documentary filmmakers at Netflix, HBO, BBC, and independent producers behind works for Criterion Collection and festivals like Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and South by Southwest. Its approach to narrative has been compared with series from This American Life, Radiolab, Serial (podcast), and Invisibilia, and it has been cited in academic discussions at institutions such as Columbia University, University of Southern California, NYU, Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge.

Awards and Recognition

The show and its producers have received honors and nominations from organizations including the Peabody Awards, Webby Awards, iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, British Podcast Awards, Third Coast International Audio Festival, Association of Music Producers, Podcast Academy, Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards, Edward R. Murrow Awards, Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association, and George Polk Awards.

Adaptations and Multimedia Projects

The series' storytelling techniques have inspired adaptations and collaborations across television, radio, and print. Producers have consulted on projects for HBO, Netflix, Amazon Studios, BBC, PBS, VICE, VICE News Tonight, Showtime, Apple TV+, FX, AMC, and publishers such as Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Multimedia extensions include live events at venues like The Public Theater, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and panels at festivals such as Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and South by Southwest.

Category:American podcasts