Clarence Darrow Death Penalty Essay

On August 22, 1924, the two rich boys, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb are tried for the murder of 14 year old Robert Franks. Clarence Darrow presents a tiresome 10 hour speech after the young men confess their guilt. Under these arduous circumstances, the test to persuade the Judge to release these kids from their death penalty all relies on Darrow’s powerful rhetorical appeal. Darrow uses captivating rhetorical appeal in attempt to denounce these young men from the death sentence, but, more importantly, to oppose civil punishment for the future. While Darrow is fighting to save the lives of these young men, he is simultaneously in the midst of another battle. Darrow also seeks to target the government on the subject of civil disobedience.

The act of civil punishment started from the influence of European practices. The very first execution was in 1608. Following the first death, the death penalty became more frequent in the court. During the colonial period, Beccaria (an Italian criminologist during the Age of Enlightenment) started influencing ideas of preventing and abolishing the death penalty. Leading up the the Civil War, the death penalty was diminished. During the Progressive period, some states started to eliminate the death penalty: “six states completely outlawed the death penalty and three limited it to the rarely committed crimes of treason and first-degree murder of a law enforcement official” (FindLaw). World War 1 had caused six of these states to return to capital punishment. With the increase of death rates, people started to become more and more against the idea of the death penalty. From the “1920s to the 1940s, there was a revival in the use of the death penalty” (FindLaw). During this time frame, the death penalty increased greatly. The Leopold and Loeb case occurred during this time where civil punishment was brought back. Deaths continued to increase all the way to the 1930s; being the year of highest death averages (167 per year). After the death rates became so high, many people revolted against the death penalty. The increase of deaths from civil punishment is what motivated Clarence Darrow to support Leopold and Loeb and

In arguing for the kids’ lives, Darrow claims that the diseased mind that controls these kids directly relates to the society that these kids are in. Darrow is limited as to how he can persuade the judge. Leopold and Loeb have already confessed that it was them that committed the crime. Now, Darrow is limited to connecting to his audience emotionally in order to prove that these men should be given a chance and be released from civil punishment. Darrow starts talking about the World War 1 and how a once civilized world became a world where the goal of one man was to kill another. He refers to the war being four years long and in those four years, humanity and morality were lost. Darrow states, “How long, your Honor, will it take for the world to get back the humane emotions that were slowly growing before the war? How long will it take the calloused hearts of men before the scars of hatred and cruelty shall be removed” (American Rhetoric 1). Clarence Darrow claims that the crime that these men committed was a result of the society during the time period after World War 1. He connects to his audience emotionally by explaining that the whole world has been influenced by the war and that with the war, came the loss of people’s humanity. Darrow argues that it was not the fault of Leopold or Loeb, but the fault of the war which has left “scars of