Comparing The Court Case Of Leopold, Loeb, And Bukharin Trial

The court cases of Manson, Leopold and Loeb, and Bukharin were utilized by the main defendants to provide commentary on certain aspects of their respective societies. Darrow’s closing argument focused on the plight of wealthy teenagers, the course materials introduced in the educational system, the historical progress made regarding the death penalty, and the impact that sentencing Leopold and Loeb to die would have on society. Manson’s testimony focused on the American jail system, President Nixon and the average person’s role in the Vietnam war and society’s outsiders. Bukharin’s last plea primarily focused on how the Show Trials will look to future generations and future societies. By analyzing the cases, comparing and contrasting them with

They were both wealthy teenagers (age 18 and age 19) from the suburbs of Chicago. They spent months determining how they wanted to carry out their plan. On May 21st, 1924, they convinced Bobby Frank to enter their car and then they killed him with a chisel and put his body into a channel. Additionally, they sent a ransom note asking for 10,000 dollars. Leopold’s and Loeb’s parents hired an expensive criminal attorney by the name of Clarence Darrow to defend them. The most notable part of the trial was Darrow’s closing argument that lasted for over half a day long. With his argument, he intended to simply save his clients from the death penalty since he knew that his clients would be found guilty. He gave his speech on August 22, 1924 and it claimed that society would be to blame if these boys were sentenced to death. He alleviated some of the blame from the boys by saying that they killed Bobby Frank because “somewhere in the infinite processes that go to the making of the boy or the man something slipped” (5). Moreover, Darrow blamed the educational system for Leopold being exposed to Nietzsche so early in life. Because of Beyond Good and Evil written by Nietzsche, Leopold believed in the concept of the superman which lead him to his opinion that murder was an acceptable act for a superman to commit if the deed gave him pleasure. Ultimately, Darrow was also critical of Leopold’s and Loeb’s upbringing noting that “Wealth has its misfortunes. Too much, too great opportunity and advantage given to a child has its misfortunes.” (14) His argument also focused on the history behind death penalty in Europe and America as well as all the progress that had been made since the first time someone was sentenced to death. He stated that poaching and petty larceny used to be punishable by death and witches used to be murdered by the millions. Eventually, this stopped