CLARENCE DARROW A HARD DETERMINIST

Who was Clarence Darrow? Born in Ohio, USA, in 1857. Studied law and started practising in 1878 in Chicago. Well known for his clever speech and quick wit in the court room.

Darrow’s View on Determinism WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR HEREDITY OR OUR ENVIRONMENT WHAT WE DO AND THE WAY WE ARE COMES DOWN TO LUCK THIS IS A HARD DETERMINIST VIEW YET THESE FACTORS DETERMINE OUR CHARACTER, CHOICES, ACTS AND EVEN OUR THOUGHTS CRIMES SHOULD BE VIEWED IN THE SAME WAY AS EARTHQUAKES OR HURRICANES ONLY NATURE AND NURTURE ARE TO BLAME.

The Leopold-Loeb case In 1924 in Chicago, 14 year old Bobby Franks was kidnapped and brutally murdered on his way home from school. The murderers were soon caught, but everyone was shocked at their identity. They were two bright teenagers from wealthy families, living lives of privilege. Their names were Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold.

Loeb was 18, and the youngest graduate in the history of the University of Michigan. Leopold was 19, and already a nationally renowned ornithologist and University of Chicago graduate. He was getting ready to start Harvard Law School. The two brilliant young men formed a bizarre relationship. They followed the teachings of Nietzsche, especially his idea of the Super Man, and planned to commit the perfect murder.

They kidnapped Bobby Franks, whom they knew slightly, beat him over the head and suffocated him with a gag. They attempted to bury his body in a swamp, then made a ransom demand to his family. However, Leopold’s spectacles were discovered next to the body. As soon as they were presented with this evidence, the teenagers confessed. Everyone demanded the death penalty.

Enter Loeb and Leopold’s defence lawyer – Clarence Darrow. He knew the teenagers were guilty and did not argue with any of the evidence. He put forward a ‘guilty’ plea, rather than the ‘not guilty’ plea that everyone expected. He waived their right to a jury trial and tried their case directly to the judge. His arguments in defence of Loeb and Leopold reveal his hard determinism.

THE TRIAL BECAME A MEDIA SPECTACLE Darrow argued that, although the young men had murdered Bobby, it was not their fault. He blamed a variety of outside factors: THEIR PARENTS THEIR YOUNG AGE THEIR NANNIES THEIR WEALTH THE TRIAL BECAME A MEDIA SPECTACLE WORLD WAR 1 THEIR HORMONES COLLEGE PROFS DETECTIVE NOVELS NIETZCHE

During the 12-hour hearing on the final day, Darrow gave the finest speech of his career. It included the following: THIS TERRIBLE CRIME WAS INHERENT IN HIS ORGANISM, AND IT CAME FROM SOME ANCESTOR… IS ANY BLAME ATTACHED BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK NIETZSCHE’S PHILOSOPHY SERIOUSLY AND FASHIONED HIS LIFE UPON IT?...IT IS HARDLY FAIR TO HANG A 19 YEAR OLD BOY FOR THE PHILOSOPHY THAT WAS TAUGHT HIM AT THE UNIVERSITY!

In the end, Darrow succeeded. The judge sentenced Leopold and Loeb each to life imprisonment for the murder, plus 99 more years each for the kidnapping. Against the odds, the teenagers had avoided the death penalty. Loeb was later killed in a prison fight and Leopold was released from prison in 1958.

The outcome of this trial still has consequences today. Darrow was the first lawyer to suggest that a defendant might not be responsible for his crime because of his inherited traits – or ‘broken machines’, as Darrow called Loeb and Leopold. The trial raised the issue of whether humans are predetermined by nature or nurture to act in certain ways.

Excerpt from Darrow’s defence, showing his hard determinist view. Why did they kill little Bobby Franks? Not for money, not for spite, not for hate. They killed him as they might kill a spider or a fly, for the experience. Because somewhere in the infinite processes that go to the making up of the boy or the man, something slipped, and those unfortunate lads sit there hated, despised outcasts, with the community shouting for their blood.

I know, your honour, that every atom of life in all this universe is bound up together. I know that a pebble cannot be thrown into the ocean without disturbing every drop of water in the sea. I know that every life is inextricably mixed and woven with every other life. I know that every influence, conscious and unconscious, acts and reacts on every living organism, and that no-one can fix the blame… Why should these boys’ lives be bound up with Frederick Nietzsche, who died 30 years ago in Germany? I don’t know. I only know it is.