On May 21st 1924, in Chicago Illinois, 19 year old Nathan Leopold and 18 year old Richard Loeb, lured 14 year old Bobby Franks (a distant cousin of Loeb’s) into their car and brutely murdered him. They then proceeded to try and confuse police by laying false clues, in particular, a fake ransom demand, which they sent to the Franks family. Their plan quickly fell apart when the body of Bobby Franks was discovered the following day and the pair were arrested. The boys confessed to the crime and presented it as an intellectual exercise, driven by their belief in the concept of Nietzsche’s Übermensch, the superman who transcended conventional human mortality, which they believed enabled and entitled them to carry out the “perfect crime”.

Their trial, for what became known as “the crime of the century” began in July 1924 at the Cook County Criminal Court and lasted for 32 days. Renowned attorney Clarence Darrow was hired by the boys’ families to defend them and he took the case because he was hugely opposed to the idea of capital punishment. The state’s attorney, Robert Crowe, by contrast, was firmly of the view that justice could only be served by hanging the 2 boys. Darrow believed that a jury trial would almost certainly end in conviction and the death penalty, so by entering a plea of guilty, he removed the need for a jury and turned the trial into an extended sentencing hearing, placing the burden of punishment entirely on the shoulders of Judge John R. Caverly.

I have always found true life crime fascinating and often wonder, as I am sure do many of you, what makes people carry out acts that the vast majority of humanity would never be able to even contemplate. From researching the history of the case,
as well as watching rehearsals, I constantly find myself persuaded by both attorney’s arguments and struggle to decide what I actually think constitutes justice. I personally am opposed to the death penalty, but I can almost align myself with Crowe when he questions what Mrs Franks would make of Darrow’s submissions (all 8 hours of them). Maybe it’s the lawyer in me, but I also have huge respect for Darrow’s tactics in removing the jury and essentially trying to take some control back and give his clients a fighting chance.

The case has inspired numerous fictional works including Patrick Hamilton’s play “Rope” (later turned into a film by Alfred Hitchcock), the novel “Compulsion” also turned into a film in 1959 with Orson Wells, as well as more recent Hollywood
movies such as “Funny Games” and “Murder By Numbers”. John Logan’s “Never The Sinner” is based on the newspaper and court reports from the time, so has some real factual basis, but at the same time, seeks to explore the relationship between Leopold and Loeb and questions just how far someone might go to prove their love and devotion.

Sam Harris