History
The idea for the show was inspired by programmes in the UK, as well as Germany – Police Five and Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst (English: File Reference XY … Unsolved) respectively. Producers viewed the shows and rejected the overt reconstructions with music to build suspense in America's Most Wanted, and were also against the idea of filming the reconstruction from the perspective of the offender as in Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst (particularly for sexual assaults). However, they favoured the idea of audience participation in the show. It started as Crimewatch UK and was due to run for three programmes only. It was regarded as an experiment when it was first shown, partly because of doubts about whether police would take part, whether witnesses and victims would welcome the idea, whether it would actually lead to arrests, and whether it could be considered to prejudice a jury. In over 25 years, 57 murderers, 53 rapists and sex offenders and 18 paedophiles have been caught as a direct result of Crimewatch appeals
Read more about this topic: Crimewatch
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