Vox Media Podcast Network
408 episodes listed below
Phoebe Judge narrates true crime history and interviews the authors who uncovered it.
Criminal tells careful, human-scale stories where a crime is often only the beginning. Its episodes move from illegal lotteries and legal spectacle to shark lines, toxic Prohibition drinks, Chinatown silence, and family trauma.
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Criminal is produced by Vox Media Podcast Network and hosted by Phoebe Judge, who narrates a portion of episodes herself and conducts interviews for others, making the show a hybrid of narrative nonfiction and interview journalism. Narrative episodes reconstruct historical cases in close, scene-by-scene detail, drawing on trial records, historical newspapers, and nonfiction books as source material. Interview episodes bring on authors, academics, and firsthand participants to discuss their research or personal experience with a case. Recurring subject areas include true crime history, courtroom and legal history, the death penalty and criminal justice reform, organized crime, and situations where legality and morality diverge unexpectedly, such as a legally permitted shark longline mistaken for a poaching operation. Guests in the sample include true crime author Kate Winkler Dawson discussing her book on an 1832 New England murder trial, Deborah Blum discussing Prohibition-era poisoning deaths, professor Carolyn Long discussing Don King's early years in Cleveland, and Sister Helen Prejean discussing death row ministry and capital punishment abolition. Episodes typically run 30 to 45 minutes and favor a measured, unhurried narrative pace over sensational framing. The show also cross-promotes sister podcasts from the same network, including Phoebe Reads a Mystery and This Is Love. Listeners drawn to literary narrative nonfiction, legal and social history, and long-form author interviews are the core audience, more than listeners seeking breaking crime coverage. At least one episode transcript carries a note that its content may not be suitable for all listeners, reflecting the show's occasional treatment of violent death and execution.
Made for: Listeners who prefer narrative-driven, historically grounded true crime and long-form nonfiction author interviews over breaking crime news.
What sets it apart: Rather than following active investigations, Criminal reconstructs decades- or centuries-old cases in literary narrative form and pairs that with interviews of the authors, scholars, and participants behind them.
Criminal is the first of its kind. A show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Named a Best Podcast of 2023 by the New York Times. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Criminal makes wrongdoing legible by tracing the people, evidence, and institutions that complicate every apparent offense.
Criminal follows wrongdoing outward, into the institutions, beliefs, and ordinary decisions surrounding it. Phoebe Judge moves between reported narratives and direct conversation, giving complicated events room to change shape as more evidence appears.
A poisoned Christmas Eve becomes history you cannot treat as trivia in Phoebe Judge's hands.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A shark-diving discovery turns into a tense story about permits, suspicion, and Florida's hostility toward sharks.
The Longline starts with the strange calm of shark diving and then lets the trouble surface slowly. Tanner, who has spent years getting close to sharks, and John Moore find a long line off Florida and think they may have stumbled onto something illegal.
A sharp Prohibition story about poisoned alcohol, criminal profit, and the deadly chemistry of a public health disaster.
Criminal's "The Formula" traces the ugly chemistry of Prohibition, starting with a Christmas Eve panic at Bellevue: people stumbling in unable to breathe, see clearly, or stay on their feet.
A somber, close-range conversation about death row, execution stays, and the terror built into waiting to die.
Sister Helen is a grave conversation about capital punishment, framed through the terror of waiting for the state to decide when a person will die.
A restrained historical true crime story where a note, a comb, and missing twine start to undo a suicide ruling.
Criminal's "Fall River" starts with Catherine Williams, a respected writer turning toward a grim 1833 case, then settles into the death of Sarah Cornell and the official ruling that did not hold.
A restrained money-trail account of the Horn case, with the manual mystery waiting at the end.
Criminal's "The Manual" follows the Horn case through money, motive, and one old question: who wrote the manual connected to the crime? The story begins with Howard Siegel, the lawyer retained to represent Trevor Horn after a hospital procedure left him severely disabled, then…
Dramatized deep dives into American history, from the Galveston hurricane to Harper Lee's Mockingbird.
Dana Schwartz narrates the violent lives of monarchs, warlords, and queens.
Tracy Wilson and Holly Frey narrate overlooked history, from Courbet's realism to IUD regulation.
Criminal’s “Unwarranted” centers on Don King’s early years in Cleveland, where he was already known as the “number czar” before becoming a boxing promoter.
Criminal’s “Rhinelander v.
A shark comes close.
Christmas Eve opens with good news at Bellevue.
This episode recounts the 1934 story of Elzire Dion, a pregnant woman in Ontario who unexpectedly went into early labor, leading to the shocking delivery of quintuplets.
A person recounts a childhood belief of being an extraterrestrial, sparked by a brother's story about being found naked on a railroad in Argentina, a region known for UFO activity.
This episode explores the case of Bella Quinto Collins, who experienced violence and sexual assault in December 2020, examining the concept of excited delirium and its implications in criminal justice.
A journalist recounts a 1973 gang murder in San Francisco's Chinatown, where witnesses were too afraid to come forward.
This episode explores the story of Mary Surratt, a widow in 1863 Maryland who ran a tavern where her son John served as a Confederate spy, with historian Kate Clifford Larson discussing how much she likely knew and approved of his activities.
This episode features an interview with Gavin Bain, who reveals he used a different name for years, exploring themes of identity and deception.
This episode is a bonus segment where hosts Phoebe Judge and Lauren Sporer chat informally about personal anecdotes, including a broken heater and an untold airplane story.
A true crime podcast episode about a man who went duck hunting alone and took risky shots.
This episode discusses a quirky historical article from The New York Times about an organization advocating for animals to wear clothes, including sewing patterns for dog and horse boxer shorts.
A body is discovered by fishermen in southwest Poland, leading to a murder investigation.
Karen Palmer recounts how she abruptly left her job and went on the run with her husband and two young daughters in 1989, changing her name and telling her older daughter they were moving somewhere safe.
A person recounts a detailed evening in March 2011, including returning from a Pentagon work trip, feeling exhausted, filling a prescription, and going to bed early in St.
January 2021, and grief is already sitting there.
An interview with a Swiss police inspector about his typical day handling fines and complaints.
A woman shares her fear of having a baby on Christmas, leading into a story about a criminal case.
A ruling begins to shift.
"Who exactly wrote the manual?" Criminal returns to that old question through Phoebe's spare setup: Mildred Horn, her severely disabled child, and the lawsuit that brought a lawyer in.
A true crime podcast episode featuring a court scene where the narrator is handcuffed.
A true crime podcast exploring stories of people who have done wrong, been wronged, or caught in between.
A witness describes a terrible day in the neighborhood where people were taken from their work sites, including landscapers and roofers, with vans being targeted.
This episode investigates a house that experienced a barrage of supernatural activity starting on Halloween night in 1992.
A historical true crime episode about a 19th-century sea captain named Thomas Dudley, setting up a story of crime and survival.
The episode begins with a sponsor ad, then introduces a story about the dichotomy between year-round and summer residents on Mount Desert Island in Maine.
This episode explores the 1996 North Carolina gubernatorial race between Jim Hunt and Robin Hayes, framed within the show's criminal justice theme.
This episode examines the US government's Operation Ranch Hand, which sprayed millions of gallons of herbicides in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the Vietnam War.
A woman meets a police officer through a co-worker and goes on a first date, setting up a crime story.
This episode recounts a historical event from 1863 involving enslaved people working in rice fields in South Carolina, setting up a crime story.
A true crime podcast featuring stories about people who have done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught in the middle.
This episode examines the case of Robert Robertson, a man on death row, and the controversial evidence of shaken baby syndrome.
A special agent recounts his first case chasing the world's most wanted butterfly smuggler.
An interview with a former pickpocket about her experiences stealing watches and credit card numbers.