The murder of a fourteen-year-old boy by two wealthy college students was shocking enough, their motive more so. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had planned to abduct and kill a child at random to prove they were smart enough to get away with it. Their lawyer, Clarence Darrow, summoned experts to show that the murderers had been shaped by childhood trauma and physical defects, and that it was society and its barbaric death penalty that deserved to be put on trial. Set in 1920s Chicago—a city of gin joints, gangsters, and political corruption—The Perfect Crime tells a story that set off a national debate about morality, individual responsibility, and capital punishment.