Leopold And Loeb's Second Trial Essay

All of the following court cases were utilized by criminals to put society itself on trial. Darrow’s closing argument focused on the plight of wealthy teenagers, the reading materials introduced in the educational system, the historical progress made regarding the death penalty, and the impact that Leopold and Loeb’s murders would have on society (especially boys like them). Manson’s testimony focused on the jail system, President Nixon’s role in the Vietnam war and society’s outsiders. Bukharin’s last plea primarily focused on how the trial will look to future generations and future societies.
The first trial happened in 1920s during the time of prohibition. In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb killed a 14-year-old kid while trying to

On August 9th and 10th, 1969, two murders were committed in Los Angeles. On August 9th, the first murder was committed by four people and the victims were Sharon Tate, Tate’s unborn baby, four of her friends and the son of Tate’s gardener. Her blood was used to write the word “pig” on the front door. On August 10th, Leno LaBianca and his wife were also murdered and a fork was used to carve the word “war” into LaBianca’s belly. Manson wasn’t involved in the first murder but he was present at the second murder. After five months, the authorities connected the Manson “family” to these two murders. The first motif behind the murder was Manson’s failed murder career. He chose the first murder house because the previous owner of the house was a producer that passed on Manson’s album/music. The second motif was Helter Skelter, a race war that Manson believed was hinted at in a Beatles’ song. He thought that eventually African-Americans would gain control over White Americans but the African-Americans would be unable to lead so that’s when the Manson Family would step in and lead the new America. They intended for these murders to look as though the victims were killed by black nationalists which is why they painted the word pig on the front door and why they carved the word war into LaBianca’s corpse. They wanted to show that society would automatically assume that it was a case caused by racial tensions. On November 11th, 1970, Charles Manson gave his testimony for the Tate-LaBianca Murder Trial. It was completely centered around the idea that society made him and his family into a murderers. He states that he never went to school so he’s unable to read and write well. Within his speech, Manson said that “My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system…. I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.” (Manson, 1) In jail, he continued to stay unintelligent so he claims that the world grew up without him and