Leopold and Loeb

Leopold and Loeb were Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971) and Richard Albert Loeb (June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936).

They were two wealthy University of Chicago law students who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 in Chicago.Homicide in Chicago 1924 Leopold & Loeb  Retrieved May 2, 2014.

The duo was motivated to murder Franks by their desire to commit a perfect crime. They committed the murder – characterized at the time as "the crime of the century".Homicide in Chicago 1924 Leopold & Loeb Retrieved July 18, 2015. They wanted to show that they were very intelligent. They believed this allowed them to carry out a "perfect crime" without consequences.

Once arrested, Leopold and Loeb hired Clarence Darrow as counsel for the defense. Darrow’s summation in their trial criticized capital punishment as retribution, rather than rehabilitation. Leopold and Loeb were sentenced to life imprisonment. Loeb was killed by a fellow prisoner in 1936; Leopold was released on parole in 1958.

The Leopold and Loeb crime has been the inspiration for several works in film, theatre, and fiction, such as the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton, and Alfred Hitchcock's take on the play in the 1948 movie of the same name. Later movies such as Compulsion and Swoon were more accurate portrayals of the Leopold and Loeb case.

 Related pages 
 Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart

 References 

Category:Burials at Oak Woods Cemetery
Category:American murderers
Category:Trials in the United States
Category:Criminals from Chicago