 The term was first coined around 1916 due to the crimes that were inspired by Jack the Ripper.Due to the increase of replicated crimes, criminologists soon began to believe that media coverage played a role in inspiring other criminals to commit crimes in a similar fashion, and even for non-criminals to begin committing crimes when they otherwise might not have done so.There is also a book written by Loren Coleman called "The Copycat Effect" that describes the effect that the media has on crimes and suicides, which are inspired by crimes that have been widely covered across the media.