The good and the bad are always in a fight from the beginning of the time. This effects our lives and emotions. Novels, TV shows, and movies are the products that we decide to consume by our feelings.
Crime genre is based on the challenge between criminals and officers. The tension during the chase, or the moment of truth make people to chose it. People match themselves easier with the characters in the story because crime is daily thing that we can see on every section of our lives. Maybe they imagine that they are the heros of the story to capture the villains or to help innocent people.
In my opinion, these type of activities are for relaxation and running away from the struggle in our lives. So I choose more simple types such as comedy or romance. However, time to time I would like to feel that tension in crime fiction, that is why I prefer it less than others.
To sum up, people choses this type of genres because of the feeling deep down in them for good ones to win, and bad ones to loose. When the criminals get caught by the officers, people who are reading or watching feel safe because they know that they can have similar experience in their lives.