Outline

Outline

I. Intro

a. Setting the mood; Discuss Hyde Park

            1. New wealthy Elite Neighborhood

            2.  Large population of Jewish wealth

            3.  History of Hyde Park (1853…”)

b.  Date of the crime

c. People involved

(1, 2, 3, 9)

II. Thesis Statement

a.       The seemingly logical murder of a wealthy teenager by his privileged neighbors astonished the city as well as the country. It reformed and expanded the laws surrounding and pleas of insanity, and shook the judicial system. This trial altered the perspective of both the death penalty in the courtroom and views of wealth and society.

III.             Background Information

A.  Leopold

1.      Wealthy

2.      Son of a millionaire box manufacturer

3.      Studied law at the University of Chicago, planning on studying law at Harvard.

4.      I.Q. 220

     B. Loeb

            1. Handsome young man

            2. Privileged background

            3. Father:  Retired Sears Roebuck V.P.

            4. Very smart, youngest graduate from the University of Michigan

            5. I.Q. 160

                        a. interested in criminal activity

                        b. Read detective stories

                        c. Participated in actual crime

                        d. The case, was the first crime physically harming a person

                        e. Instigator

   C. Bobby Franks

            1. 14 years old

            2. from Hyde Park “The Lake Forest of the South Side”

            3.  Lived on 50^th and Ellis

            4. Described as a small thin boy active in sports

            5. Father; Jacob M. Franks was a retired industrialist, formally

President of the Rockford watch company

            (4, 5, 6, 7)

IV.             The Murder

a. Planning the “perfect crime” 

b. Kidnap/Chance

c. disposal

d. ransom

V.                The Discovery of “Bobby”

a.       How did they get caught?

1.      Glasses at scene of the crime

2.       Alibis did not connect

3.      Tony Minke, a Polish immigrant, discovered the body.

(5,…)

VI.             The Trail

a.       Clarence Darrow/ John R. Calvary

1.      Why did they choose?

b.      Trial for the century

1.      Everyone thought that they would plead not guilty, but Clarence Darrow

2.      Tactics, and reasoning for his approach to the case

c.       Verdict

1.      Leopold and Loeb received 2 sentences

a.       Life imprisonment

b.      99 years each for kidnapping

VII.          Effect on the Judicial system

a.        Illinois death penalty 20^th century

b.      Introduced new tactics and defense strategies for criminal law

1.      Judge vs. Jury

2.      Not Guilty = Jury & Guilty= Judge - Darrow quote from the trial- closing argument

“But, Your Honor, if these boys hang, you must do it. There can be no division of responsibility here. You can never explain that the rest overpowered you. It must be by your deliberate, cool, premeditated act, without a chance to shift responsibility. It was not a kindness to you. We placed this responsibility on your shoulders because we were mindful of the rights of our clients, and we were mindful of the unhappy families who have done no wrong. “

a.       Why was this important

                                                                                                                                      i.      Darrow specifically wanted a judge so the decision was only theirs, and the responsibility was not split between 12 people

     c. Introduction of Psych in the courtroom-quote from Leopold psychiatrist.

c.       Death Penalty

1.      After this case there was another option for criminal defense besides being put to death

2.       Decrease death sentences

(9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)

VIII.       Wealth in Society

a.       Stereotype of Wealth

1.      “That they are perfect, and do no wrong”

“Here were two boys with good intellect one eighteen and one nineteen. They had all the prospects that life could out for any of the young… [ they were] boys who never knew what it was to want a dollar; boys who could reach any position that was give to boys of that kind to reach; boys of distinguished and hinirable families, families of wealth and position, with all the world before them . “–Peter J. Spalding

a. well-off

b. educated

c. respectable

2.      In the end, Darrow succeeded. The judge sentenced Leopold and Loeb each to life imprisonment for the murder and 99 years each for the kidnapping. This was mainly on the grounds that, being under 21; Leopold and Loeb were legal minors.

b. Jewish community

            c. not common occurrence-elite vs. ghetto, desensitized to crime

            d. shocking that this type of murder came from wealthy families

1. Trial got a lot of attention and had spectacle qualities, i.e. angry mob outside courtroom

           

           

Crucible Act II

Act II takes place in Proctors home, Elizabeth and proctor are downstairs disguising the trials while Marry Warren servant, has gone to the witch trials. At the time 14 people are already in jail, and everyone is on their toes because if you are accused witches do not confess, they will be hanged. But when Cheever comes in with the Warrant everyone in the household is caught off guard, Abigail has accused Elizabeth in dabbling in black magic or witch craft, claiming she was trying to kill her. Therefore she is taking away to be locked up and Proctor promises to get her out. In this act I really enjoyed the drama unfolding and how old the secrets of a “pure”, “Utopian” society are just spilling out .Also how neighbors, friends, co-workers, family are at everyone’s throat. Tossing up names just to save themselves just like McCarthyism. I feel as if people are going to start to use this whole situation to their advantages to get rid of people they don’t like, to get property, power pr even money.

Note Cards

1) 1. The Hyde Park community began in 1853 when Paul Cornell, a New York lawyer, purchased 300 acres of property from 51st to 55th Streets. H e was also an insightful investor, and Cornell deeded 60 acres to the Illinois Central Railroad in exchange for a train station and the promise of daily trips to the heart of Chicago's commercial core. As construction expanded over the next thirty years. One of the first was the creation of the University of Chicago, the University of Chicago emerged from the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller, who was interested in launching an institution of higher learning in the Midwest,

2)  1. During this time, Hyde Park also became increasingly ethnically diverse, as Jewish residents became an important part of the area's social fabric. They began to set up a variety of social and civic institutions, including a Jewish community center and several synagogues.

 3) 3. Hyde Park is a majority middle class, but there are small areas that reflect the 20th century period where the wealthier people in the city moved to this neighborhood to escape the decline of Prairie Avenue. At the time Hyde Park wasn’t seen as a diverse community or any capability of being more then it was planned to be an urban-renewal plan. At the time, it was a old commercial buildings and housing stock

4)  8. Bobby Franks, was the victim of this case. He lived on 50th and Ellis Avenue at the time of his kidnapping on May 21st, 1924. His family was very well off; his father Jacob M. Franks was a retired industrialist, formally a president of the Rockford watch company. Jacob M. Franks married his wife Flora in 1906, and in 1909 Bobby was born.

5)  9. The crime that captured national attention in 1924 began as a fantasy in the mind of eighteen-year old Richard Loeb, the handsome and privileged son of a retired Sears Roebuck vice president. Loeb was obsessed with crime. Despite his intelligence and standing as the youngest graduate ever of the University of Michigan, Loeb read mostly detective stories. He read about crime, he planned crimes, and he committed crimes, although none until 1924 were crimes involving physical harm to a person.

 6) 9. Darrow and Leopold later saw Loeb's fascination with crime as form of rebellion against the well-meaning, but strict and controlling, governess who raised him. For Loeb, crime became a sort of game; he wanted to commit the perfect crime just to prove that it could be done.

7) 9.Loeb's nineteen-year old partner in crime, Nathan Leopold, was interested in ornithology, philosophy, and especially, Richard Loeb. Like Loeb, Leopold was a child of wealth and opportunity, the son of a millionaire box manufacturer. At the time of their crime, Leopold was a law student at the University of Chicago and was planning to begin studies at Harvard Law School after a family trip to Europe in the summer. As a student of philosophy, “Leopold was attracted to Friedrich Nietzsche.

 8) 9.Nietzsche's influence on early twentieth century academics was powerful, and the merits of ideas contained in books like his Beyond Good and Evil were fiercely debated in centers of learning like the University of Chicago. Leopold agreed with Nietzsche's criticism of moral codes, and believed that legal obligations did not apply to those who approached "the superman." Leopold's idea of the superman was his friend and lover, Richard Loeb.”

9) 9.It was Darrow's decision to change the boys' initial pleas to the charges of murder and kidnapping from "not guilty," to "guilty." The decision was made primarily to prevent the state from getting two opportunities to get a death sentence. “With "not guilty" pleas, the state had planned to try the boys first on one of the two charges, both of which carried the death penalty in Illinois, and if it failed to win a hanging on the first charge, try again on the second. The guilty plea also meant that the sentencing decision would be made by a judge, not by a jury. Darrow's decision to plead the boys guilty undoubtedly was based in part on his belief that the judge who would hear their case, John R. Caverly, was a "kindly and discerning" man. With the public seemingly unanimous in calling for death, Darrow did not want to face a jury. In his summation Darrow noted, "where responsibility is divided by twelve, it is easy to say ‘away with him'; but, your honor, if these boys are to hang, you must do it--...it must be by your cool, premeditated act, without a chance to shift responsibility."”

 10) 10.  Darrow's decision to plead the boys guilty undoubtedly was based in part on his belief that the judge who would hear their case, John R. Caverly, was a "kindly and discerning" man. With the public seemingly unanimous in calling for death, Darrow did not want to face a jury. In his summation Darrow noted, "where responsibility is divided by twelve, it is easy to say ‘away with him'; but, your honor, if these boys are to hang, you must do it--...it must be by your cool, premeditated act, without a chance to shift responsibility."

11) 10. The defense presented extensive psychiatric evidence describing the defendants' emotional immaturity, obsessions with crime and Nietzschean philosophy, alcohol abuse, glandular abnormalities, and sexual longings and insecurities. Lay witnesses, classmates and associates of Loeb, were offered to prove his belligerence, inappropriate laughter, lack of judgment, and childishness. Other lay witness testified as to Leopold's egocentricity and argumentative nature. The state offered in rebuttal psychiatrists who saw normal emotional responses in the boys and no physical basis for a finding of mental abnormality.

     

12) 10. The defense hoped to build its case against death around the testimony of four psychiatrists, called "alienists" at the time. The prosecution argued that psychiatric testimony was only admissible if the defendants claimed insanity, while the defense argued strenuously that evidence of mental disease should be considered as a mitigating factor in consideration of the sentence. "In the most critical ruling of the trial, Judge Caverly decided against the state's objection, and allowed the psychiatric evidence to be introduced."

13) 11. The famous Leopold and Loeb trial affected the public and future of law in Illinois. The trial most influenced the use of capital punishment in Illinois. Since 

14) 11. Next, the trial's plea affected outcomes of future criminal cases in Illinois. "The "plea of not guilty by reason of insanity" introduced a new defense for guilty criminals." For years to come after their trial, Darrow's plea saved more people from the death sentence in Illinois. Finally, it also had an effect on society. The murder changed the public's view of wealthy people. Now, society realized that wealthy and intelligent people weren't always good. 

15) 12.  Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gregg v. Georgia, Illinois's state legislature voted to reinstate capital punishment in 1974. "The first execution under the new statute was that of Charles Walker in 1990, followed by eleven more executions until the final Illinois execution was carried out in 1999." All executions in Illinois since 1974 were carried out through lethal injection.

16) 13. Troy Leon Gregg was an individual who was incarcerated within the State of Georgia subsequent to his arrest and conviction of the murder of two individuals in 1973; subsequent to his trial, the jury had found Gregg guilty and had sentenced him to death. Gregg was the first individual in the history of the United States whose respective execution was accepted by the Supreme Court of the United States

17. 14) On the Southside of Chicago was a developing suburb called Hyde Park, which was full of promise, as well as new wealth. Nicknamed the “Lake Forest of the Southside,” it was established by wealth, for wealthy people.

18. 14) In 1853 Paul Cornell a New York lawyer purchased land between 51st street to 55th. Over the next thirty years, his involvement helped establish major institutions like the University of Chicago.  At the this time the neighborhood was becoming ever more diverse, Jewish families of wealth moved into the community, assisting in the establishment of Hyde Park, and becoming prominent parts of the community.

19. 15) Born Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. on November 19, 1904, Leopold was a native to Chicago. Nathan Leopold was the son of a wealthy family of German Jewish descent. The families wealth derived from his fathers box shipping and freight company. Claimed to be a child prodigy, Leopold exceed genius levels, he was rumored to have an I.Q. between 210-220 at that time.

20. 15) Leopold studied law at the University of Chicago, with the intent of studying law at Harvard University as well. Leopold is described as a very strange and awkward character; his intelligence set him apart from his contemporaries. He struggled making friends due to his elitist attitude, which carried through his young adult life. When he attended the University of Chicago in 1920, he established the mutual friendship with Richard Loeb, his partner in crime.

21.) 16. Born Richard Albert Loeb on June 11, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois. “Richard Loeb was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth,” his father was a wealthy Jewish lawyer who went on to the vice president of Sears and Roebuck. Due the strict hand in the household Loeb excelled academically, which led to him being one of the youngest and most intelligent graduates from the University of Michigan. He was also known to have an I.Q. of 160.  –Biography.com

22. 17. His intelligence he had a darker side to him, “Loeb showed distinct Jekyll/Hyde characteristics from an early age.” He was interested in all sorts of criminal activity, he read detective stories, and participated in actual crime like minor family theft to shoplifting, vandalism and arson, but known involved physically harming a person until he conjured of the perfect murder. –Biography.com

23. 18) Robert Franks was a neighbor and acquaintance of Richard Loeb, also a Hyde Parker, he lived on 50th and Ellis in the Kenwood neighborhood.  He was described as a very thin boy and participated in sports. He also came from a wealthy family. His father was Jacob M. Franks, a retired industrialist and formally the president of the Rockford Watch Company. –Biography.com

24. 19) what was Leopold and Loebs plan? While experimenting with their elite status via petty small crimes. This built up to their plan for the perfect crime-murder. Their plan was to kidnap and kill a neighborhood boy, dispose of the body, and write a ransom note without getting caught.

25.) 20. “Loeb showed distinct Jekyll/Hyde characteristics from an early age.” He was interested in all sorts of criminal activity, he read detective stories, and participated in actual crime like minor family theft to shoplifting, vandalism and arson, but known involved physically harming a person until he conjured of the perfect murder.

26.) 20. his father was a wealthy Jewish lawyer who went on to the vice president of Sears and Roebuck. Due the strict hand in the household Loeb excelled academically, which led to him being one of the youngest and most intelligent graduates from the University of Michigan. He was also known to have an I.Q. of 160.

27.) 21. While Bobby Franks was walking home from a baseball game around 5:15 pm. They hailed Bobby to the car, asking him about a tennis racket Loeb was interested in. He was struck in the back of the head with a chisel and he was gagged with a sock in his mouth. Soon after his death

28.) 21 Leopold and Loeb drove to an area near Wolf Lake near Hammond, Indiana.  He was stripped naked on the side of the road and covered with hydrocholoric acid, making identification of the body difficult. Then disposed the body in a drainage pipe at the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks north of Wolf Lake

Crucible Post

The story takes place in a Puritan Town called Salem. The scene open ups in in Reverend Paris' house, in a small upstairs bedroom, in the year 1692.  His daughter Betty is sick, he is praying by the side of the bed where then the author introduces many other characters; Abigail, Proctor, Tituba, Mr. & Mrs. Putman and others. They believe that there has been some sort of connection to the Devil in the village, they begin spreading terror and havoc among themselves, and the town.  I really enjoy the plot the author portrays, the drama and the secrets hidden behind all theses so called “picture perfect,” or “pure” people and in this society. I feel like they don’t focus as much on the actual Salem trails, but the story behind it and secrets beneath this group of people in Salem. The evil within all these “pure” folk, and all their dirty little secrets begin to spill out like a shaken up soda waiting to spur out. So, that’s was somewhat of a let done, because it was not what I expected.         

Word Count: 182