Summary

• True crime shows have made Netflix a streaming giant with popular titles like Making a Murderer and Tiger King.
• Netflix offers a variety of true crime shows, featuring controversial cult leaders, family murders, and cold case investigations.
• The platform provides a unique perspective by allowing subjects like Amanda Knox to tell their own stories, and explores the impact of social media on crime cases.

True crime shows on Netflix are one of the biggest draws for the streaming platform. Crime stories based on real-life people and events have gained in popularity over the last few years thanks to podcasts and publicized cold case investigations. While other platforms like Hulu have delved into his public fascination with their programming as well, true crime shows have played a big role in making Netflix one of the streaming giants with shows like Making a Murderer and Tiger King becoming pop culture obsessions.

Netflix has continued to lean into true crime Worst Roommate Ever and Bad Vegan among the many other titles in the genre now available on the platform. These Netflix docies center on a variety of subjects including a controversial cult leader, an amateur thief, and a father fighting for justice after his son's murder. While not all of these shows have reached the mainstream in the same way as other popular titles, Netflix offers enough content for true crime fans to keep binging for a long time.

50 Amanda Knox (2016)

The Suspect In A Notorious Case Shares Her Story

Amanda Knox’s name is known around the world because her arrest for the murder of her roommate while a part of a student exchange program in Italy was all over the news when it happened. She was initially convicted, spent four years in an Italian prison, and was eventually exonerated.

The documentary allows Amanda Knox to tell her own story. She gives a first-hand of what it was like to be investigated and imprisoned while maintaining her innocence for years. Not many of Netflix’s best true crime documentaries can get the point of view of their subject as so many are told long after the events of the cases are over. It’s a great lead-in for the many documentaries available on Netflix.

49 American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)

Social Media Builds The Story Behind A Family's Murder

American Murder: The Family Next Door takes a unique approach to presenting its case. It does so like a found footage film, using interviews, social media posts, and more to piece together what happened to the Watts family. The style received mixed reviews but the content was engaging.

Despite the polarizing style of the documentary, the technique is effective because it doesn’t reveal who killed Shanann Watts and her two daughters until they’ve already seen interviews with him and heard conflicting s of Shanann’s personality from social media s. It’s a great look at how social media can change the perception of a story.

48 Murder Mountain (2018)

A Killing At The Center Of A Weed Farm Business

Marijuana is big business - both legal and illegal - in the United States, so it makes perfect sense that at least one of the true-crime series on Netflix would examine this world. In this case, it’s not so much the drug itself that gets the spotlight. Instead, it’s the illegal activity around Humboldt County’s mountain range where there are several cannabis farms.

While the documentary covers a lot of information surrounding the farms, the main focus is the murder of a 29-year-old cannabis farmer. While the series has been called “one-sided” by those who live in Humboldt County, it does provide an interesting window into the growing industry for true-crime fans.

47 Exhibit A (2019)

A Look At The Misconceptions Of Crime Scene Evidence

There is a big focus placed on forensic evidence in modern docies, and even in modern fictional crime dramas. Exhibit A examines just what kinds of physical evidence are actually incredibly subjective, and just how mistakes can be made in cases using them.

Each episode of the docies focuses on a different kind of evidence. One focuses on the interpretation of blood spatter, for example, which those watching crime dramas might think is an exact science, but it actually requires investigators to do a lot of guesswork. The series is a fascinating look at different methods true-crime fans might have thought of as fool-proof evidence before watching.

46 Inside The Criminal Mind (2017)

An Examination Of The Psychology Of Different Criminals

This German docies was picked up by Netflix for an international release in 2017. It’s a must-watch for true crime fans who are interested in the psychology behind criminal acts. Each episode of the series spotlights a different type of criminal, like serial killers in the first episode. They examine the why for the criminal type in each episode, making for a fascinating dissection of a criminal mind, even if each episode can’t afford to go into too much detail since it has to get into the next.

They examine the why for the criminal type in each episode, making for a fascinating dissection of a criminal mind.

45 Cold Case Files (2017)

Dormant Cases Are Brought Back To Life

This docies is a reboot of an old A&E series. Both series seek to do the same thing: document the solving of cases that have been termed “cold,” those with no new leads for investigators to follow. Because each episode focuses on a different case, the best thing about the show is that it examines the many different ways a cold case can be reopened. While one episode might focus on advancements in forensic science, another might focus on a previously unknown witness coming forward. It’s a variety of techniques that are important for the closing of long cold investigations.

44 Trial 4 (2020)

The Long Journey To Justice For A Wrongfully Convicted Man

Two mistrials, one conviction, and one exoneration make up the titular four trials of Sean K. Ellis. Ellis was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1993. The series uses archival footage, interviews, and even animations to tell the full story of the crime and trials.

The series doesn't jump right into the meat of the story. It’s a little slow to get there, but with eight episodes, it has room to give as much detail as possible. Fans expecting a fast-paced laying out of facts will be disappointed, but the series is worth the watch as it gives as much information about Ellis and his trials as possible.

43 Audrie & Daisy (2016)

When Social Media Targets Victims

Audrie & Daisy is not an easy true-crime documentary to watch. The series isn’t just a presentation of evidence or the timeline of an investigation. Instead, it focuses on the effect of social media on modern investigations and survivors of crimes.

In this case, those survivors are teenage girls who were sexually assaulted at parties by people they thought they could trust. The investigations into what happened to the teenage girls aren’t handled well, and both girls end up vilified on social media by their peers. In the modern age, social media is a huge component of how information is shared, and Audrie & Daisy shows the dark side of that in a compelling look at their individual cases.

42 Missing: Dead Or Alive (2023)

Real-Life Missing Persons Cases Are Investigated

There are so many true-crime series that focus on what happens after a missing person is found dead, and how an investigation works backward from that moment. This particular series starts at the beginning of a missing person’s case, and it’s a great true crime docies because some of the cases in the show have happy endings.

Each episode highlights a different person as a camera crew follows an investigator in a real police department. It’s easy to see the emotional toll not recovering a missing person, or worse, finding them deceased, takes on an investigator. The series allows for an emotional component instead of just facts presented by investigators years after they’ve pursued their leads.

41 Our Father (2022)

A Look At Victims Of A Criminal Fertility Doctor

Fertility fraud isn’t a crime heard of particularly often, but it does exist. That’s exactly what this documentary tracks. In fact, it documents the fraud committed by fertility doctor Donald Cline who used his own biological material to impregnate dozens of his patients.

The documentary strives to tell the story of those victimized by him. While Our Father is one of the best true crime documentaries on Netflix, it’s classified as such because of the stories of the victims that it brings to light. Its execution plays more like a tabloid news show than some of the other, better, documentaries.