Crimes of the century : from Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson / Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Geis, Gilbert.

Contributor:

Bienen, Leigh B.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials--United States.

Trials.

United States.

Physical Description:

230 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Northeastern University Press, [1998]

Summary:

Five dramatic trials of the twentieth century that dazzled the media and captivated the American public are the subject of this provocative book. In compelling and riveting narrative, the authors probe the sensational cases of Richard A. Loeb and Nathan F. Leopold, Jr., the Scottsboro "boys", Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Alger Hiss, and O. J. Simpson, highlighting significant lessons about criminal behavior and the administration of criminal justice.

Each case study details the crime, the police investigation, and the court proceedings, profiles the major players, and examines the outcome and aftermath of the trial. The authors untangle the perplexities surrounding the cases and illuminate the many mysteries that remain unsolved today. These celebrated trials reveal issues of overzealous prosecution, sloppy police work, judicial bias, race, class, and ethnic struggles, and the role of wealth in securing a competent defense. They also show how the temper of the times and frenzied media coverage heightened the intensity of drama in the cases.

Taken together, these well-publicized, highly controversial crimes of the century and the public battleground on which they sought resolution disclose the tensions, inadequacies, and underlying elements of criminal justice adjudication.

Contents:

2 Leopold and Loeb (1924) and the Cause of Crime 13

3 Scottsboro (1931) and Racial Injustice 49

4 Bruno Richard Hauptmann (1932), Public Outrage, and Criminal Justice 89

5 Alger Hiss (1948), the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the Courts 127

6 O. J. Simpson (1994): Can the Rich Buy Reasonable Doubt? 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1555533604

OCLC:

39069482