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The Perfect Crime

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A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting Essay

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Mysterious and almost frightening, the stories of Edgar Allan Poe are filled with the air of tragedy. One of his unsurpassed specimens of a thriller, The Cask of Amontillado, creates a distressing impression of pain and sorrow spiced with the chilling legend of an awful crime. Although the writer’s descriptions of places and people are almost deprived of any emotions, Poe manages to create the perfect backdrop for the perfect crime, creating mystic atmosphere and leaving all to the imagination of the reader.

It must be admitted that with his unusual gift of depicting the most petrifying environment so that it immediately rises in front of the reader’s eyes, Poe creates the perfect setting in The Cask of Amontillado – with just a few strokes of his pen the author made the image of the gloomy cave as real as it can be. Each of the details which the two fellows encounter on their way contributes to the overall impression of the increasing fear.

The growing tension within Montresor’s soul is completely evident – it oozes out onto the pages of the book and becomes visible and palpable. To prove this, it is enough to compare his relatively calm remark” “I said to him – “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts”” (Poe) with these hectic words: “For a brief moment I hesitated — I trembled” (Poe).

In addition, the timing of the crime is quite important. It is not accidental that the crime takes place as the sun sets behind the horizon. A perfect example of Poe’s symbolism, this can mean several things. On the one hand, the sun setting behind the horizon can be associated with the sunset of Fortunato’s life.

On the other hand, the time setting in the story sets the right atmosphere and creates the mysterious murky environment, all shot through with something terrible to happen: “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much” (Poe).

Another piece of setting to consider in Poe’s story is the venue of the crime. Adding to the overall impression of the petrifying atmosphere, the cave also triggers claustrophobic associations, another detail which is common for a number of Poe’s works. Because of the closed space and the dark, morose shades of the cavern, the claustrophobic impression doubles and grips the reader: “At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious.

Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris” (Poe). Creating the air of hopelessness, Poe’s story literally sends shivers down the reader’s spine. A cadence of frightening details, the description makes the tension grow as the plot unwinds: ”Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size”. (Poe)

Imagining the setting as if the cave was right in front of his/her eyes, the reader understands that discovering the corpse would be practically impossible, which makes this crime perfect indeed.

Thus, The Cask of Amontillado offers a perfect setting for a perfect crime. With help of tiny details that inflame readers’ imagination, Poe created an ideal setting for a classic thriller. Scary and intriguing, exciting and sad, The Cask of Amontillado is a real masterpiece. If a scheme for a perfect crime timed impeccably and planned flawlessly could exist, this would be Montresor’s terrifying and cruel plot.

Poe, E. A. The Cask of Amontillado. n.d. Literature.org. Web.

  • Edgar Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Ligeia”
  • Discussion of “The Cask of Amontillado”
  • Imagery Use in “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
  • The Relationship between Decadence and Technology, as Explored in Ray Bradbury’s Stories The Veldt and The Rocket
  • Poe’s Favorite Subject Matter Is Death
  • "Twenty-five Years in the Black Belt" by William James Edwards
  • “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
  • Narrator's Changing Character in "The Yellow Wallpaper"
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, September 10). A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-perfect-place-for-a-perfect-crime-creating-the-impeccable-setting/

"A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting." IvyPanda , 10 Sept. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/a-perfect-place-for-a-perfect-crime-creating-the-impeccable-setting/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting'. 10 September.

IvyPanda . 2018. "A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting." September 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-perfect-place-for-a-perfect-crime-creating-the-impeccable-setting/.

1. IvyPanda . "A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting." September 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-perfect-place-for-a-perfect-crime-creating-the-impeccable-setting/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "A Perfect Place for a Perfect Crime: Creating the Impeccable Setting." September 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-perfect-place-for-a-perfect-crime-creating-the-impeccable-setting/.

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Crime Essay Topics: 25+ Interesting Ideas for Your Next Paper

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by  Antony W

June 9, 2024

crime essay topics

Your next crime essay has to be on point. You have to prove to your professor that you understand themes of individual restraint, social behavior control, crime deterioration, criminal law, or anything related to crime. The first step is to choose a compelling topic to explore.

In this post, we give you a list of crime essay topics and ideas that you can explore. Whether you’ve started brainstorming or you feeling hopeless because you’re running late, these ideas can save you a lot of time.

Remember, how well and easy you write a crime essay depends on topic selection. So you should be careful to choose an idea that you can explore within the scope of the assignment. Read the assignment brief to determine which essay to write and how long it should be. Everything else builds on the topic you choose. 

Key Takeaways

  • Look at different theories, contemporary issues, and sub-disciplines linked to crime to understand the different areas you can explore.
  • Determine what fascinates you about crime in relation to law essays , coursework, and assignments.
  • Write down the aspects of crime and social justice that most appeal to you and then narrow down your option to one area.
  • Choose a specific topic that fits within your interest.

Best Crime Essay Topics

The following is a list of the best crime essay topic that you might find interesting for your next assignment:

Society and Justice Topics

  • Rehabilitation and moralities
  • The key characteristics of employment and crime
  • Delinquency cases in children
  • Community service and criminals
  • Crime prevention in children
  • Social ecology and abandoned peoples
  • White-collar crimes and their consequences
  • Is moral panic a new danger or an ordinary issue?
  • Socio-economic background and crime
  • Bad parenting and juvenile delinquencies
  • Social changes in the United States is a problematic issue
  • The pros and cons of background criminal checks
  • Are new prisons necessary in the United States of America?
  • Write an essay on rehabilitation and recidivism
  • Social institutions and criminal justice
  • Causes of victimization
  • Justice as a norm in today’s society
  • Criminal justice, sociology & psychology
  • Social cohesion and criminal justice
  • The prosecution of children as an adult in the United States of America
  • Criminalizing homelessness in the United States of America and the world
  • Cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking
  • The role of education in keeping a safe society
  • How to help abused children
  • Children and online offenders

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Police and Policing Topics

  • Ethical dimensions of policing and criminal justice: an analytical study
  • Unpacking contemporary instances of police corruption: case analyses
  • Militarization of law enforcement in the United States
  • Examining instances of police brutality
  • Police-public interactions and controversial issues in the United States
  • Police as catalysts for societal change in the United States
  • Critiquing crisis intervention training in policing
  • Exploring systemic police abuse in the United States’ criminal justice framework
  • Assessing the efficacy of predictive policing in law enforcement practices
  • Tracing the historical trajectory of American policing from a contextual perspectives
  • Advantages and dilemma of community support for policing in neighborhoods

Capital Punishment Essay Topics

  • Understanding racial disparities in the criminal justice system and their societal ramifications
  • Examining solitary confinement’s psychological impact on prisoners
  • Critical assessment of mandatory minimum sentences in drug offense cases
  • Ethical quandaries surrounding the employment of informants in criminal investigations
  • Evaluating bias and discrimination in predictive policing algorithms
  • Private prisons’ influence on the structure and functioning of the justice system
  • Assessing rehabilitation programs’ efficacy in reducing recidivism
  • Ethical considerations and data usage of technological surveillance in law enforcement:
  • Decriminalization versus legalization perspectives over drug criminalization:
  • Policy implications of mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients
  • Impacts of bail reforms pretrial detention and systemic equity
  • An assessment of efficacy of poverty, crime, and programmatic interventions

Criminal Law Essay Topics

  • Intersecting legal and ethical dimensions of the death penalty
  • Examining plea bargains: Implications and functionality in justice systems
  • Evaluating the impact of mandatory minimum sentences on crime reduction
  • Race, ethnicity, and the dynamics of the criminal justice system
  • The role, reliability, and significance of forensic science in criminal investigations
  • Unpacking the relationship between poverty and crime rates
  • The contribution of forensic psychology to profiling in criminal investigations
  • Evaluating its effectiveness of community policing in crime prevention and resolution
  • Protecting victims’ rights within the criminal justice framework
  • Ethical concerns and algorithmic biases in predictive policing applications
  • Understanding mental health’s interplay with criminal behavior
  • Exploring drug decriminalization or legalization: impacts on crime
  • Surveillance ethics: Legitimacy and considerations in public spaces
  • Media influence and its role in shaping public perception in criminal trials
  • Implications and rectification of sentencing disparities based on socioeconomic status
  • Assessing hate crime legislation’s efficacy in prosecution and prevention
  • Restorative justice’s role in recidivism mitigation
  • Emerging technologies in criminal law: AI, facial recognition, and privacy concerns
  • Technology’s influence on criminal investigations and privacy rights
  • Effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in recidivism prevention

Criminal Justice Essay Topics

  • Regulatory frameworks and security protocols
  • Understanding eligibility and protection in witness security programs
  • Patterns and profiles of abduction, ransom, and recurring behaviors
  • Contemporary challenges and priorities for law enforcement
  • Forensic science’s role and evolution in modern criminal justice
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of community corrections programs
  • Identity theft in today’s context: Risks and impactful consequences
  • Forgery incidents: Prevalence in workplaces, government, and academia
  • Addressing issues and improvement strategies of prison living conditions:
  • Real-world application of prosecution laws
  • Anatomy of a criminal trial: The processes and key components explained
  • Navigating ethical challenges in law enforcement from a critical perspective
  • Exploring historical insights and lessons from the evolution of criminal courts
  • Religious motive crimes: Understanding sentencing and punitive measures
  • The impact and ethical considerations of the media’s role in crime narratives
  • Problem-solving courts: Resolving foundational issues in justice systems
  • Distributive justice’s significance in the framework of criminal justice
  • Mechanisms and taxonomies in categorization of crimes
  • Looking at the methodologies and considerations for jury selection processes:
  • The role of crime mapping in modern criminal justice dynamics

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About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

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101 Crime Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Crime is a prevalent issue in society and has been a topic of interest for many researchers, scholars, and students alike. Writing an essay on crime can be a thought-provoking and engaging task, allowing you to explore various aspects of criminal behavior, law enforcement, and the criminal justice system. To help you get started, here are 101 crime essay topic ideas and examples:

  • The impact of social media on crime rates.
  • Exploring the rise of cybercrime in the digital age.
  • The relationship between poverty and crime.
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in reducing recidivism.
  • The role of mental illness in criminal behavior.
  • Examining the influence of media on public perception of crime.
  • The effectiveness of community policing in crime prevention.
  • The reasons behind the gender disparity in crime rates.
  • The role of genetics in criminal behavior.
  • The impact of drugs and substance abuse on crime rates.
  • Exploring the connection between domestic violence and crime.
  • The effectiveness of the death penalty in deterring crime.
  • Analyzing the impact of racial profiling on crime rates.
  • The psychological factors that contribute to criminal behavior.
  • The relationship between unemployment and crime rates.
  • The effectiveness of gun control policies in reducing crime.
  • The role of technology in solving and preventing crimes.
  • Analyzing the impact of organized crime on society.
  • The reasons behind juvenile delinquency and how to address it.
  • The relationship between education and crime rates.
  • The impact of hate crimes on marginalized communities.
  • Exploring the concept of white-collar crime and its consequences.
  • The role of criminal profiling in solving crimes.
  • The impact of the war on drugs on crime rates.
  • Analyzing the connection between poverty and drug-related crimes.
  • The role of restorative justice in the criminal justice system.
  • The reasons behind the high incarceration rates in the United States.
  • Examining the concept of vigilantism and its ethical implications.
  • The impact of crime on tourism and local economies.
  • The role of the media in shaping public perception of crime.
  • Analyzing the causes and consequences of hate crimes.
  • The relationship between mental health and criminal behavior.
  • The effectiveness of community-based corrections programs.
  • Exploring the impact of DNA evidence on solving crimes.
  • The reasons behind the phenomenon of serial killers.
  • The role of socioeconomic factors in shaping criminal behavior.
  • The impact of criminal records on employment opportunities.
  • Analyzing the causes of gang violence and potential solutions.
  • The relationship between poverty and property crime rates.
  • The effectiveness of surveillance technologies in preventing crime.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of recidivism among ex-convicts.
  • The impact of mandatory minimum sentences on the criminal justice system.
  • The role of forensic science in solving crimes.
  • Analyzing the causes and consequences of police brutality.
  • The relationship between substance abuse and violent crimes.
  • The effectiveness of community-based crime prevention programs.
  • Exploring the concept of restorative justice and its application.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of drug-related crimes in urban areas.
  • The impact of human trafficking on global crime rates.
  • The role of criminal justice policies in reducing crime rates.
  • Analyzing the connection between poverty and juvenile delinquency.
  • The effectiveness of rehabilitation versus punishment in the criminal justice system.
  • The reasons behind the rise of terrorism in the modern world.
  • The impact of drug legalization on crime rates.
  • The role of forensic psychology in solving crimes.
  • Exploring the causes and consequences of hate speech crimes.
  • The relationship between addiction and criminal behavior.
  • The effectiveness of drug treatment programs in reducing crime rates.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of domestic violence.
  • The impact of police discretion on the criminal justice system.
  • Analyzing the connection between child abuse and future criminal behavior.
  • The role of the media in perpetuating stereotypes about crime.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of sexual assault on college campuses.
  • The effectiveness of community outreach programs in preventing crime.
  • The impact of race and ethnicity on sentencing disparities.
  • The relationship between poverty and violent crime rates.
  • The role of forensic anthropology in solving crimes.
  • Exploring the causes and consequences of human rights violations.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of identity theft in the digital era.
  • The impact of mandatory drug testing on reducing workplace crime.
  • The effectiveness of drug courts in addressing drug-related crimes.
  • The role of environmental factors in shaping criminal behavior.
  • Analyzing the connection between child neglect and future criminal behavior.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of gun violence in the United States.
  • The impact of community surveillance programs on crime prevention.
  • The relationship between mental health treatment and recidivism rates.
  • The role of forensic entomology in solving crimes.
  • Exploring the causes and consequences of human smuggling.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of cyberbullying and online harassment.
  • The impact of restorative justice practices on reducing prison overcrowding.
  • The effectiveness of drug education programs in preventing substance abuse.
  • The role of social inequality in contributing to criminal behavior.
  • Analyzing the connection between child exploitation and future criminal behavior.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals.
  • The impact of community-oriented policing on crime rates.
  • The relationship between mental health stigma and access to treatment for offenders.
  • The role of forensic odontology in solving crimes.
  • Exploring the causes and consequences of human organ trafficking.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of cyberstalking and online harassment.
  • The impact of restorative justice on the reintegration of ex-convicts into society.
  • The effectiveness of education in preventing drug-related crimes.
  • The role of social disorganization theory in understanding crime rates.
  • Analyzing the connection between child maltreatment and future criminal behavior.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of hate crimes against religious minorities.
  • The impact of community-based rehabilitation programs on reducing recidivism.
  • The relationship between mental health treatment and diversion programs.
  • The role of forensic toxicology in solving crimes.
  • Exploring the causes and consequences of human trafficking for labor exploitation.
  • The reasons behind the high rates of online fraud and identity theft.
  • The impact of alternative sentencing programs on reducing prison populations.
  • The effectiveness of harm reduction strategies in addressing drug-related crimes.

These crime essay topic ideas provide a broad range of subjects to explore and analyze. Choose a topic that aligns with your interests and research the subject thoroughly to develop a well-informed and compelling essay. Remember to support your arguments with evidence, statistics, and relevant examples to strengthen your essay and provide a comprehensive understanding of the chosen crime topic.

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The Perfect Crime

  • J. Baudrillard
  • Published 17 August 1996

179 Citations

Waging terror: the geopolitics of the real, “clearer than real”: a history of mediated realities in pynchon's against the day, documentary in an age of terror, postmodernism in the twenty-first century: jordan peterson, jean baudrillard and the problem of chaos, dealing with metaphysical evil : the banker as evil genius in the british game show 'deal or no deal', the (un)making of suicidal modernity: giddens' account.

  • Highly Influenced

Baudrillard's Illusions

The end of oppositional history, from comte to baudrillard, the place of marx in contemporary thought: the case of jean baudrillard. 1, related papers.

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Leopold and Loeb’s Criminal Minds

In defense of murderers Leopold and Loeb, attorney Clarence Darrow thwarted a nation’s call for vengeance

Simon Baatz

Nathan Leopold and his lover Richard Loeb

Nathan Leopold was in a bad mood. That evening, on November 10, 1923, he had agreed to drive with his friend and lover, Richard Loeb, from Chicago to the University of Michigan—a journey of six hours—to burglarize Loeb's former fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau. But they had managed to steal only $80 in loose change, a few watches, some penknives and a typewriter. It had been a big effort for very little reward and now, on the journey back to Chicago, Leopold was querulous and argumentative. He complained bitterly that their relationship was too one-sided: he always joined Loeb in his escapades, yet Loeb held him at arm's length.

Eventually Loeb managed to quiet Leopold's complaints with reassurances of his affection and loyalty. And as they continued to drive along the country roads in the direction of Chicago, Loeb started to talk about his idea to carry out the perfect crime. They had committed several burglaries together, and they had set fires on a couple of occasions, but none of their misdeeds had been reported in the newspapers. Loeb wanted to commit a crime that would set all of Chicago talking. What could be more sensational than the kidnapping and murder of a child? If they demanded a ransom from the parents, so much the better. It would be a difficult and complex task to obtain the ransom without being caught. To kidnap a child would be an act of daring—and no one, Loeb proclaimed, would ever know who had accomplished it.

Leopold and Loeb had met in the summer of 1920. Both boys had grown up in Kenwood, an exclusive Jewish neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. Leopold was a brilliant student who matriculated at the University of Chicago at the age of 15. He also earned distinction as an amateur ornithologist, publishing two papers in The Auk , the leading ornithological journal in the United States. His family was wealthy and well connected. His father was an astute businessman who had inherited a shipping company and had made a second fortune in aluminum can and paper box manufacturing. In 1924, Leopold, 19, was studying law at the University of Chicago; everyone expected that his career would be one of distinction and honor.

Richard Loeb, 18, also came from a wealthy family. His father, the vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, possessed an estimated fortune of $10 million. The third son in a family of four boys, Loeb had distinguished himself early, graduating from University High School at the age of 14 and matriculating later the same year at the University of Chicago. His experience as a student at the university, however, was not a happy one. Loeb's classmates were several years older and he earned only mediocre grades. At the end of his sophomore year, he transferred to the University of Michigan, where he remained a lackluster student who spent more time playing cards and reading dime novels than sitting in the classroom. And he became an alcoholic during his years at Ann Arbor. Nevertheless he managed to graduate from Michigan, and in 1924 he was back in Chicago, taking graduate courses in history at the university.

The two teenagers had renewed their friendship upon Loeb's return to Chicago in the fall of 1923. They seemed to have little in common—Loeb was gregarious and extroverted; Leopold misanthropic and aloof—yet they soon became intimate companions. And the more Leopold learned about Loeb, the stronger his attraction for the other boy. Loeb was impossibly good-looking: slender but well built, tall, with brown-blond hair, humorous eyes and a sudden attractive smile; and he had an easy, open charm. That Loeb would often indulge in purposeless, destructive behavior—stealing cars, setting fires and smashing storefront windows—did nothing to diminish Leopold's desire for Loeb's companionship.

Loeb loved to play a dangerous game, and he sought always to raise the stakes. His vandalism was a source of intense exhilaration. It pleased him also that he could rely on Leopold to accompany him on his escapades; a companion whose admiration reinforced Loeb's self-image as a master criminal. True, Leopold was annoyingly egotistical. He had an irritating habit of bragging about his supposed accomplishments, and it quickly became tiresome to listen to Leopold's empty, untrue boast that he could speak 15 languages. Leopold also had a tedious obsession with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He would talk endlessly about the mythical superman who, because he was a superman, stood outside the law, beyond any moral code that might constrain the actions of ordinary men. Even murder, Leopold claimed, was an acceptable act for a superman to commit if the deed gave him pleasure. Morality did not apply in such a case.

Leopold had no objection to Loeb's plan to kidnap a child. They spent long hours together that winter, discussing the crime and planning its details. They decided upon a $10,000 ransom, but how would they obtain it? After much debate they came up with a plan they thought foolproof: they would direct the victim's father to throw a packet containing the money from the train that traveled south of Chicago along the elevated tracks west of Lake Michigan. They would be waiting below in a car; as soon as the ransom hit the ground, they would scoop it up and make good their escape.

On the afternoon of May 21, 1924, Leopold and Loeb drove their rental car slowly around the streets of the South Side of Chicago, looking for a possible victim. At 5 o'clock, after driving around Kenwood for two hours, they were ready to abandon the kidnapping for another day. But as Leopold drove north along Ellis Avenue, Loeb, sitting in the rear passenger seat, suddenly saw his cousin, Bobby Franks, walking south on the opposite side of the road. Bobby's father, Loeb knew, was a wealthy businessman who would be able to pay the ransom. He tapped Leopold on the shoulder to indicate they had found their victim.

Leopold turned the car in a circle, driving slowly down Ellis Avenue, gradually pulling alongside Bobby.

"Hey, Bob," Loeb shouted from the rear window. The boy turned slightly to see the Willys-Knight stop by the curb. Loeb leaned forward, into the front passenger seat, to open the front door.

"Hello, Bob. I'll give you a ride."

The boy shook his head—he was almost home.

"No, I can walk."

"Come on in the car; I want to talk to you about the tennis racket you had yesterday. I want to get one for my brother."

Bobby had moved closer now. He was standing by the side of the car. Loeb looked at him through the open window. Bobby was so close....Loeb could have grabbed him and pulled him inside, but he continued talking, hoping to persuade the boy to climb into the front seat.

Bobby stepped onto the running board. The front passenger door was open, inviting the boy inside...and then suddenly Bobby slid himself into the front seat, next to Leopold.

Loeb gestured toward his companion, "You know Leopold, don't you?"

Bobby glanced sideways and shook his head—he did not recognize him.

"You don't mind [us] taking you around the block?"

"Certainly not." Bobby turned around in the seat to face Loeb; he smiled at his cousin with an open, innocent grin, ready to banter about his success in yesterday's tennis game.

The car slowly accelerated down Ellis Avenue. As it passed 49th Street, Loeb felt on the car seat beside him for the chisel. Where had it gone? There it was! They had taped up the blade so that the blunt end—the handle—could be used as a club. Loeb felt it in his hand. He grasped it more firmly.

At 50th Street, Leopold turned the car left. As it made the turn, Bobby looked away from Loeb and glanced toward the front of the car.

Loeb reached over the seat. He grabbed the boy from behind with his left hand, covering Bobby's mouth to stop him from crying out. He brought the chisel down hard—it smashed into the back of the boy's skull. Once again he pounded the chisel into the skull with as much force as possible—but the boy was still conscious. Bobby had now twisted halfway around in the seat, facing back to Loeb, desperately raising his arms as though to protect himself from the blows. Loeb smashed the chisel down two more times into Bobby's forehead, but still he struggled for his life.

The fourth blow had gashed a large hole in the boy's forehead. Blood from the wound was everywhere, spreading across the seat, splashed onto Leopold's trousers, spilling onto the floor.

It was inexplicable, Loeb thought, that Bobby was still conscious. Surely those four blows would have knocked him out?

Loeb reached down and pulled Bobby suddenly upwards, over the front seat into the back of the car. He jammed a rag down the boy's throat, stuffing it down as hard as possible. He tore off a large strip of adhesive tape and taped the mouth shut. Finally! The boy's moaning and crying had stopped. Loeb relaxed his grip. Bobby slid off his lap and lay crumpled at his feet.

Leopold and Loeb had expected to carry out the perfect crime. But as they disposed of the body—in a culvert at a remote spot several miles south of Chicago—a pair of eyeglasses fell from Leopold's jacket onto the muddy ground. Upon returning to the city, Leopold dropped the ransom letter into a post box; it would arrive at the Franks house at 8 o'clock the next morning. The following day, a passerby spotted the body and notified the police. The Franks family confirmed the identity of the victim as that of 14-year-old Bobby. The perfect crime had unraveled and now there was no longer any thought, on the part of Leopold and Loeb, of attempting to collect the ransom.

By tracing Leopold's ownership of the eyeglasses, the state's attorney, Robert Crowe, was able to determine that Leopold and Loeb were the leading suspects.

Ten days after the murder, on May 31, both boys confessed and demonstrated to the state's attorney how they had killed Bobby Franks.

Crowe boasted to the press that it would be "the most complete case ever presented to a grand or petit jury" and that the defendants would certainly hang. Leopold and Loeb had confessed and shown the police crucial evidence—the typewriter used for the ransom letter—that linked them to the crime.

The trial, Crowe quickly realized, would be a sensation. Nathan Leopold admitted they had murdered Bobby solely for the thrill of the experience. ("A thirst for knowledge is highly commendable, no matter what extreme pain or injury it may inflict upon others," Leopold had told a newspaper reporter. "A 6-year-old-boy is justified in pulling the wings from a fly, if by so doing he learns that without wings the fly is helpless.") The defendants' wealth, their intellectual ability, the high regard within Chicago for their families and the capricious nature of the homicide—everything combined to make the crime one of the most intriguing murders in the history of Cook County.

Crowe also realized that he could turn the case to his own advantage. He was 45 years old, yet already he had had an illustrious career as chief justice of the criminal court and, since 1920, as state's attorney of Cook County. Crowe was a leading figure in the Republican Party with a realistic chance of winning election as Chicago's next mayor. To send Leopold and Loeb to the gallows for their murder of a child would, no doubt, find favor with the public.

Indeed, the public's interest in the trial was driven by more than lurid fascination with the grisly details of the case. Sometime within the past few years the country had experienced a shift in public morality. Women now bobbed their hair, smoked cigarettes, drank gin and wore short skirts; sexuality was everywhere and young people were eagerly taking advantage of their new freedoms. The traditional ideals—centered on work, discipline and self-denial—had been replaced by a culture of self-indulgence. And what single event could better illustrate the dangers of such a transformation than the heinous murder of Bobby Franks? The evangelical preacher Billy Sunday, passing through Chicago on his way to Indiana, warned that the killing could be "traced to the moral miasma which contaminates some of our ‘young intellectuals.' It is now considered fashionable for higher education to scoff at God....Precocious brains, salacious books, infidel minds—all these helped to produce this murder."

But while Crowe could count on the support of an outraged public, he faced a daunting adversary in the courtroom. The families of the confessed murderers had hired Clarence Darrow as defense attorney. By 1894, Darrow had achieved notoriety within Cook County as a clever speaker, an astute lawyer and a champion of the weak and defenseless. One year later, he would become the most famous lawyer in the country, when he successfully defended Socialist labor leader Eugene Debs against conspiracy charges that grew out of a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company. Crowe could attest firsthand to Darrow's skills. In 1923, Darrow had humiliated him in the corruption trial of Fred Lundin, a prominent Republican politician.

Like Crowe, Darrow knew that he might be able to play the trial of Leopold and Loeb to his advantage. Darrow was passionately opposed to the death penalty; he saw it as a barbaric and vengeful punishment that served no purpose except to satisfy the mob. The trial would provide him with the means to persuade the American public that the death penalty had no place in the modern judicial system.

Darrow's opposition to capital punishment found its greatest source of inspiration in the new scientific disciplines of the early 20th century. "Science and evolution teach us that man is an animal, a little higher than the other orders of animals; that he is governed by the same natural laws that govern the rest of the universe," he wrote in the magazine Everyman in 1915. Darrow saw confirmation of these views in the field of dynamic psychiatry, which emphasized infantile sexuality and unconscious impulses and denied that human actions were freely chosen and rationally arranged. Individuals acted less on the basis of free will and more as a consequence of childhood experiences that found their expression in adult life. How, therefore, Darrow reasoned, could any individual be responsible for his or her actions if they were predetermined?

Endocrinology—the study of the glandular system—was another emerging science that seemed to deny the existence of individual responsibility. Several recent scientific studies had demonstrated that an excess or deficiency of certain hormones produced mental and physical alterations in the afflicted person. Mental illness was closely correlated with physical symptoms that were a consequence of glandular action. Crime, Darrow believed, was a medical problem. The courts, guided by psychiatry, should abandon punishment as futile and in its place should determine the proper course of medical treatment for the prisoner.

Such views were anathema to Crowe. Could any philosophy be more destructive of social harmony than Darrow's? The murder rate in Chicago was higher than ever, yet Darrow would do away with punishment. Crime, Crowe believed, would decline only through the more rigorous application of the law. Criminals were fully responsible for their actions and should be treated as such. The stage was set for an epic courtroom battle.

Still, in terms of legal strategy, the burden fell heaviest on Darrow. How would he plead his clients? He could not plead them innocent, since both had confessed. There had been no indication that the state's attorney had obtained their statements under duress. Would Darrow plead them not guilty by reason of insanity? Here too was a dilemma, since both Leopold and Loeb appeared entirely lucid and coherent. The accepted test of insanity in the Illinois courts was the inability to distinguish right from wrong and, by this criterion, both boys were sane.

On July 21, 1924, the opening day of court, Judge John Caverly indicated that the attorneys for each side could present their motions. Darrow could ask the judge to appoint a special commission to determine if the defendants were insane. The results of an insanity hearing might abrogate the need for a trial; if the commission decided that Leopold and Loeb were insane, Caverly could, on his own initiative, send them to an asylum.

It was also possible that the defense would ask the court to try each defendant separately. Darrow, however, already had expressed his belief that the killing was a consequence of each defendant influencing the other. There was no indication, therefore, that the defense would argue for a severance.

Nor was it likely that Darrow would ask the judge to delay the start of the trial beyond August 4, its assigned date. Caverly's term as chief justice of the criminal court would expire at the end of August. If the defense requested a continuance, the new chief justice, Jacob Hopkins, might assign a different judge to hear the case. But Caverly was one of the more liberal justices on the court; he had never voluntarily sentenced a defendant to death; and it would be foolish for the defense to request a delay that might remove him from the case.

Darrow might also present a motion to remove the case from the Cook County Criminal Court. Almost immediately after the kidnapping, Leopold had driven the rental car across the state line into Indiana. Perhaps Bobby had died outside Illinois and therefore the murder did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Cook County court. But Darrow had already declared that he would not ask for a change of venue and Crowe, in any case, could still charge Leopold and Loeb with kidnapping, a capital offense in Illinois, and hope to obtain a hanging verdict.

Darrow chose none of these options. Nine years earlier, in an otherwise obscure case, Darrow had pleaded Russell Pethick guilty of the murder of a 27-year-old housewife and her infant son but had asked the court to mitigate the punishment on account of the defendant's mental illness. Now he would attempt the same strategy in the defense of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. His clients were guilty of murdering Bobby Franks, he told Caverly. Nevertheless he wished the judge to consider three mitigating factors in determining their punishment: their age, their guilty plea and their mental condition.

It was a brilliant maneuver. By pleading them guilty, Darrow avoided a trial by jury. Caverly would now preside over a hearing to determine punishment—a punishment that might range from the death penalty to a minimum of 14 years in prison. Clearly it was preferable for Darrow to argue his case before a single judge than before 12 jurors susceptible to public opinion and Crowe's inflammatory rhetoric.

Darrow had turned the case on its head. He no longer needed to argue insanity in order to save Leopold and Loeb from the gallows. He now needed only to persuade the judge that they were mentally ill—a medical condition, not at all equivalent or comparable to insanity—to obtain a reduction in their sentence. And Darrow needed only a reduction from death by hanging to life in prison to win his case.

And so, during July and August 1924, the psychiatrists presented their evidence. William Alanson White, the president of the American Psychiatric Association, told the court that both Leopold and Loeb had experienced trauma at an early age at the hands of their governesses. Loeb had grown up under a disciplinary regimen so exacting that, in order to escape punishment, he had had no other recourse but to lie to his governess, and so, in White's account at least, he had been set on a path of criminality. "He considered himself the master criminal mind of the century," White testified, "controlling a large band of criminals, whom he directed; even at times he thought of himself as being so sick as to be confined to bed, but so brilliant and capable of mind...[that] the underworld came to him and sought his advice and asked for his direction." Leopold also had been traumatized, having been sexually intimate with his governess at an early age.

Other psychiatrists—William Healy, the author of The Individual Delinquent , and Bernard Glueck, professor of psychiatry at the New York Postgraduate School and Hospital—confirmed that both boys possessed a vivid fantasy life. Leopold pictured himself as a strong and powerful slave, favored by his sovereign to settle disputes in single-handed combat. Each fantasy interlocked with the other. Loeb, in translating his fantasy of being a criminal mastermind into reality, required an audience for his misdeeds and gladly recruited Leopold as a willing participant. Leopold needed to play the role of the slave to a powerful sovereign—and who, other than Loeb, was available to serve as Leopold's king?

Crowe had also recruited prominent psychiatrists for the prosecution. They included Hugh Patrick, president of the American Neurological Association; William Krohn and Harold Singer, authors of Insanity and the Law: A Treatise on Forensic Psychiatry ; and Archibald Church, professor of mental diseases and medical jurisprudence at Northwestern University. All four testified that neither Leopold nor Loeb displayed any sign of mental derangement. They had examined both prisoners in the office of the state's attorney shortly after their arrest. "There was no defect of vision," Krohn testified, "no defect of hearing, no evidence of any defect of any of the sense paths or sense activities. There was no defect of the nerves leading from the brain as evidenced by gait or station or tremors."

Each set of psychiatrists—one for the state, the other for the defense—contradicted the other. Few observers noticed that each side spoke for a different branch of psychiatry and was, therefore, separately justified in reaching its verdict. The expert witnesses for the state, all neurologists, had found no evidence that any organic trauma or infection might have damaged either the cerebral cortex or the central nervous system of the defendants. The conclusion reached by the psychiatrists for the prosecution was, therefore, a correct one—there was no mental disease.

The psychiatrists for the defense—White, Glueck and Healy—could assert, with equal justification, that, according to their understanding of psychiatry, an understanding informed by psychoanalysis, the defendants had suffered mental trauma during childhood that had damaged each boy's ability to function competently. The result was compensatory fantasies that had led directly to the murder.

Most commentators, however, were oblivious to the epistemological gulf that separated neurology from psychoanalytic psychiatry. The expert witnesses all claimed to be psychiatrists, after all; and it was, everyone agreed, a dark day for psychiatry when leading representatives of the profession could stand up in court and contradict each other. If men of national reputation and eminence could not agree on a common diagnosis, then could any value be attached to a psychiatric judgment? Or perhaps each group of experts was saying only what the lawyers required them to say—for a fee, of course.

It was an evil that contaminated the entire profession, thundered the New York Times , in an editorial similar to dozens of others during the trial. The experts in the hearing were "of equal authority as alienists and psychiatrists," apparently in possession of the same set of facts, who, nevertheless, gave out "opinions exactly opposite and contradictory as to the past and present condition of the two prisoners.... Instead of seeking truth for its own sake and with no preference as to what it turns out to be, they are supporting, and are expected to support, a predetermined purpose....That the presiding Judge," the editorial writer concluded sorrowfully, "is getting any help from those men toward the forming of his decision hardly is to be believed."

At 9:30 on the morning of September 10, 1924, Caverly prepared to sentence the prisoners. The final day of the hearing was to be broadcast live over station WGN, and throughout the city, groups of Chicagoans clustered around radio sets to listen. The metropolis had paused in its morning bustle to hear the verdict.

Caverly's statement was brief. In determining punishment, he gave no weight to the guilty plea. Normally a guilty plea could mitigate punishment if it saved the prosecution the time and trouble of demonstrating culpability; but that had not been the case on this occasion.

The psychiatric evidence also could not be considered in mitigation. The defendants, Caverly stated, "have been shown in essential respects to be abnormal....The careful analysis made of the life history of the defendants and of their present mental, emotional and ethical condition has been of extreme interest....And yet the court feels strongly that similar analyses made of other persons accused of crime would probably reveal similar or different abnormalities....For this reason the court is satisfied that his judgment in the present case cannot be affected thereby."

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had been 19 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the murder. Did their youth mitigate the punishment? The prosecuting attorneys, in their concluding statements to the court, had emphasized that many murderers of similar age had been executed in Cook County; and none had planned their deeds with as much deliberation and forethought as Leopold and Loeb. It would be outrageous, Crowe had argued, for the prisoners to escape the death penalty when others—some even younger than 18—had been hanged.

Yet, Caverly decided he would hold back from imposing the extreme penalty on account of the age of the defendants. He sentenced each defendant to 99 years for the kidnapping and life in prison for the murder. "The court believes," Caverly stated, "that it is within his province to decline to impose the sentence of death on persons who are not of full age. This determination appears to be in accordance with the progress of criminal law all over the world and with the dictates of enlightened humanity."

The verdict was a victory for the defense, a defeat for the state. The guards allowed Leopold and Loeb to shake Darrow's hand before escorting the prisoners back to their cells. Two dozen reporters crowded around the defense table to hear Darrow's response to the verdict and, even in his moment of victory, Darrow was careful not to seem too triumphal: "Well, it's just what we asked for but...it's pretty tough." He pushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead, "It was more of a punishment than death would have been."

Crowe was furious at the judge's decision. In his statement to the press, Crowe made sure everyone knew whom to blame: "The state's attorney's duty was fully performed. He is in no measure responsible for the decision of the court. The responsibility for that decision rests with the judge alone." Later that evening, however, Crowe's rage would emerge in full public view, when he issued another, more inflammatory statement: "[Leopold and Loeb] had the reputation of being immoral...degenerates of the worst type....The evidence shows that both defendants are atheists and followers of the Nietzschean doctrines...that they are above the law, both the law of God and the law of man....It is unfortunate for the welfare of the community that they were not sentenced to death."

As for Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, their fates would take divergent paths. In 1936, inside Stateville Prison, James Day, a prisoner serving a sentence for grand larceny, stabbed Loeb in the shower room and despite the best efforts of the prison doctors, Loeb, then 30 years old, died of his wounds shortly afterward.

Leopold served 33 years in prison until he won parole in 1958. At the parole hearing, he was asked whether he realized that every media outlet in the country would want an interview with him. Already there was a rumor that Ed Murrow, the CBS correspondent, wanted him to appear on his television show "See It Now." "I don't want any part of lecturing, television or radio, or trading on the notoriety," Leopold replied. The confessed murderer who had once deemed himself a superman stated, "All I want, if I am so lucky as to ever see freedom again, is to try to become a humble little person."

Upon his release, Leopold moved to Puerto Rico, where he lived in relative obscurity, studying for a degree in social work at the University of Puerto Rico, writing a monograph on the birds of the island, and, in 1961, marrying Trudi Garcia de Quevedo, the expatriate widow of a Baltimore physician. During the 1960s, Leopold was finally able to travel to Chicago. He returned to the city often, to see old friends, to tour the South Side neighborhood near the university and to place flowers on the graves of his mother and father and two brothers.

It had been so long ago—that summer of 1924, in the stuffy courtroom on the sixth floor of the Cook County Criminal Court—and now he was the sole survivor. The crime had passed into legend; its thread had been woven into the tapestry of Chicago's past; and when Nathan Leopold, at age 66, died in Puerto Rico of a heart attack on August 29, 1971, the newspapers wrote of the murder as the crime of the century, an event so inexplicable and so shocking that it would never be forgotten.

Š 2008 by Simon Baatz, adapted from For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago , published by HarperCollins.

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Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks

Published on February 9, 2015 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

This example guides you through the structure of an essay. It shows how to build an effective introduction , focused paragraphs , clear transitions between ideas, and a strong conclusion .

Each paragraph addresses a single central point, introduced by a topic sentence , and each point is directly related to the thesis statement .

As you read, hover over the highlighted parts to learn what they do and why they work.

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Other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay, an appeal to the senses: the development of the braille system in nineteenth-century france.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

In France, debates about how to deal with disability led to the adoption of different strategies over time. While people with temporary difficulties were able to access public welfare, the most common response to people with long-term disabilities, such as hearing or vision loss, was to group them together in institutions (Tombs, 1996). At first, a joint institute for the blind and deaf was created, and although the partnership was motivated more by financial considerations than by the well-being of the residents, the institute aimed to help people develop skills valuable to society (Weygand, 2009). Eventually blind institutions were separated from deaf institutions, and the focus shifted towards education of the blind, as was the case for the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, which Louis Braille attended (Jimenez et al, 2009). The growing acknowledgement of the uniqueness of different disabilities led to more targeted education strategies, fostering an environment in which the benefits of a specifically blind education could be more widely recognized.

Several different systems of tactile reading can be seen as forerunners to the method Louis Braille developed, but these systems were all developed based on the sighted system. The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris taught the students to read embossed roman letters, a method created by the school’s founder, Valentin Hauy (Jimenez et al., 2009). Reading this way proved to be a rather arduous task, as the letters were difficult to distinguish by touch. The embossed letter method was based on the reading system of sighted people, with minimal adaptation for those with vision loss. As a result, this method did not gain significant success among blind students.

Louis Braille was bound to be influenced by his school’s founder, but the most influential pre-Braille tactile reading system was Charles Barbier’s night writing. A soldier in Napoleon’s army, Barbier developed a system in 1819 that used 12 dots with a five line musical staff (Kersten, 1997). His intention was to develop a system that would allow the military to communicate at night without the need for light (Herron, 2009). The code developed by Barbier was phonetic (Jimenez et al., 2009); in other words, the code was designed for sighted people and was based on the sounds of words, not on an actual alphabet. Barbier discovered that variants of raised dots within a square were the easiest method of reading by touch (Jimenez et al., 2009). This system proved effective for the transmission of short messages between military personnel, but the symbols were too large for the fingertip, greatly reducing the speed at which a message could be read (Herron, 2009). For this reason, it was unsuitable for daily use and was not widely adopted in the blind community.

Nevertheless, Barbier’s military dot system was more efficient than Hauy’s embossed letters, and it provided the framework within which Louis Braille developed his method. Barbier’s system, with its dashes and dots, could form over 4000 combinations (Jimenez et al., 2009). Compared to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, this was an absurdly high number. Braille kept the raised dot form, but developed a more manageable system that would reflect the sighted alphabet. He replaced Barbier’s dashes and dots with just six dots in a rectangular configuration (Jimenez et al., 2009). The result was that the blind population in France had a tactile reading system using dots (like Barbier’s) that was based on the structure of the sighted alphabet (like Hauy’s); crucially, this system was the first developed specifically for the purposes of the blind.

While the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the sighted before its adoption throughout France. This support was necessary because sighted teachers and leaders had ultimate control over the propagation of Braille resources. Many of the teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth resisted learning Braille’s system because they found the tactile method of reading difficult to learn (Bullock & Galst, 2009). This resistance was symptomatic of the prevalent attitude that the blind population had to adapt to the sighted world rather than develop their own tools and methods. Over time, however, with the increasing impetus to make social contribution possible for all, teachers began to appreciate the usefulness of Braille’s system (Bullock & Galst, 2009), realizing that access to reading could help improve the productivity and integration of people with vision loss. It took approximately 30 years, but the French government eventually approved the Braille system, and it was established throughout the country (Bullock & Galst, 2009).

Although Blind people remained marginalized throughout the nineteenth century, the Braille system granted them growing opportunities for social participation. Most obviously, Braille allowed people with vision loss to read the same alphabet used by sighted people (Bullock & Galst, 2009), allowing them to participate in certain cultural experiences previously unavailable to them. Written works, such as books and poetry, had previously been inaccessible to the blind population without the aid of a reader, limiting their autonomy. As books began to be distributed in Braille, this barrier was reduced, enabling people with vision loss to access information autonomously. The closing of the gap between the abilities of blind and the sighted contributed to a gradual shift in blind people’s status, lessening the cultural perception of the blind as essentially different and facilitating greater social integration.

The Braille system also had important cultural effects beyond the sphere of written culture. Its invention later led to the development of a music notation system for the blind, although Louis Braille did not develop this system himself (Jimenez, et al., 2009). This development helped remove a cultural obstacle that had been introduced by the popularization of written musical notation in the early 1500s. While music had previously been an arena in which the blind could participate on equal footing, the transition from memory-based performance to notation-based performance meant that blind musicians were no longer able to compete with sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997). As a result, a tactile musical notation system became necessary for professional equality between blind and sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997).

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Bullock, J. D., & Galst, J. M. (2009). The Story of Louis Braille. Archives of Ophthalmology , 127(11), 1532. https://​doi.org/10.1001/​archophthalmol.2009.286.

Herron, M. (2009, May 6). Blind visionary. Retrieved from https://​eandt.theiet.org/​content/​articles/2009/05/​blind-visionary/.

Jiménez, J., Olea, J., Torres, J., Alonso, I., Harder, D., & Fischer, K. (2009). Biography of Louis Braille and Invention of the Braille Alphabet. Survey of Ophthalmology , 54(1), 142–149. https://​doi.org/10.1016/​j.survophthal.2008.10.006.

Kersten, F.G. (1997). The history and development of Braille music methodology. The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education , 18(2). Retrieved from https://​www.jstor.org/​stable/40214926.

Mellor, C.M. (2006). Louis Braille: A touch of genius . Boston: National Braille Press.

Tombs, R. (1996). France: 1814-1914 . London: Pearson Education Ltd.

Weygand, Z. (2009). The blind in French society from the Middle Ages to the century of Louis Braille . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

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  • A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

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The perfect crime?

Few events in recent times have been the subject of such speculation as the assassination, on 6th April 1994, of Rwanda's president Juvénal Habyarimana. For 13 years, the identity of those who shot down the president's Mystère Falcon jet—triggering the genocide of up to 1m Rwandans, mainly Tutsi—has remained a mystery. All that is known with certainty is that surface-to-air missiles were fired at the jet as it came in to land at Kigali airport, causing it to crash into the garden of the presidential villa—killing all on board.

By this time Rwanda had suffered over three years of civil war, with President Habyarimana's Hutu government fighting a rebel army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), created in neighbouring Uganda by Rwandan Tutsi refugees. In previous decades, thousands of Rwandan Tutsi had been forced into exile refugee camps, denied the right of return. The RPF emerged to enforce their rights, and invaded Rwanda in October 1990, eventually seizing territory in the north. In 1993 an international peace agreement—known as the Arusha accords, after the Tanzanian city in which it was signed—was brokered between the Rwandan government and the RPF, providing for a power-sharing democracy in Rwanda. UN peacekeepers were sent to monitor compliance with the agreement.

After the downing of the jet, each side in the civil war blamed the other for the death of the president, and a vicious battle for the historical truth has been waged ever since. It is widely believed that whoever is eventually found guilty will carry the moral responsibility for starting the genocide—which is why we may never know for certain who the assassins were.

In the hours immediately after the plane had crashed, blame was laid squarely at the door of the RPF, with the Hutu radio station RTLM announcing that "Tutsi rebels" had assassinated the president. These news broadcasts also claimed that the rebels had been assisted by Belgian peacekeepers. The story spread rapidly, and had a decisive effect on events. The following morning, ten Belgian UN peacekeepers were murdered by Rwandan soldiers who believed they had been involved in the shooting down of the aircraft. These peacekeepers had been the escort for the pro-democracy coalition prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who was also killed that morning. Their deaths led to the collapse of the UN mission and a hurried exodus of Rwanda's 3,000-strong expatriate community. By that time the genocide was well under way, with thousands of Tutsi being killed in churches, schools, hospitals and clinics—anywhere they had fled for safety.

In November 2006, the blame was again laid at the door of the RPF, with the publication of an investigation into the assassination of Habyarimana by Jean-Louis Bruguière, a leading French anti-terrorism judge. Bruguière claimed to have obtained proof that Paul Kagame—in 1994 the military leader of the RPF and since 2000 president of Rwanda—had ordered the attack. Bruguière took as his main witness an RPF defector called Abdul Joseph Ruzibiza, who claimed to have been a member of an RPF death squad that had carried out the assassination. But he provided few details. Bruguière's team did not visit the crash site, and did not interview the air traffic controllers on duty on the night of the attack.

The Kagame government saw the Bruguière report as a move against a government considered by France from its inception to be "anglophone." There was a swift response. Rwanda severed all diplomatic ties with France, and the French ambassador was given days to leave the country. Rwanda referred the matter to the international court of justice, accusing France of violating international law and demanding that the warrants be annulled. France refused its consent to the court's jurisdiction.

An alternative version of events involves the extremist wing of the Hutu movement. At the time of his death, President Habyarimana was flying home from an international conference in the Tanzanian capital Dar-es-Salaam, where he had finally conceded power-sharing with the RPF, pledging to implement the Arusha accords. But Arusha had never been accepted by some anti-Tutsi army officers. One theory, outlined in contemporary Belgian intelligence reports, was that these officers wanted to get rid of their "moderate" president, and so drew up plans for his assassination. The Belgian agents wrote that almost everyone in Kigali—westerners and Rwandans—believed that one particular officer, Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, was behind the plot.

Bagosora fled Rwanda after the genocide. He was arrested in Cameroon in 1996, and today stands accused on 12 charges, including genocide, at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania. During his trial, which has lasted five years so far, the prosecution has accused him of leading a coup d'ĂŠtat against Habyarimana. But he denies any involvement in the assassination, saying that it is "common knowledge" that Kagame ordered the shooting down of the plane.

Denial of Hutu involvement in the Habyarimana assassination is a foundation stone of Bagosora's defence case. The colonel and his fellow Hutu defendants portray the killing of Tutsi as a furious and spontaneous Hutu reaction to the murder of the president by Tutsi rebels, and claim that there is an international conspiracy to prevent any investigation of the crash, so as to protect the leadership in Rwanda. "Me, I don't believe that genocide took place," Bagosora has told the court. "Most reasonable people think there were excessive massacres."

But now a second account of Hutu involvement in the assassination has arisen, courtesy of a new witness who testified in Bagosora's trial. This witness, a convicted Hutu génocidaire, provides a precise story with names, times and places. XXQ—the pseudonym given to the witness by the ICTR for his own protection—indicated that he wanted to talk last summer. He first gave information to a Rwandan investigation into the French role during the civil war and subsequent genocide. I recently spent time in Rwanda, researching my third book on the genocide, and was allowed to meet the witness. In 12 hours of interviews, he told me his story.

It is unclear what prompted XXQ to talk to the Rwandan inquiry, or indeed to me. He told me that if he did not speak out, then those responsible for the assassination would get away with it. He said he was concerned that the "wrong" version of events had gained currency, but more importantly he wanted to exonerate the widow of President Habyarimana, Agathe Kanziga. A member of a well-established Hutu clan from northern Rwanda—where anti-Tutsi racism was strongest—Kanziga had built up her own network of government officials, the feared "Akazu," during her husband's dictatorship. The Akazu treated the country as a personal fiefdom, and after the president's assassination, many believed that in order to maintain her own profitable oligarchy, Kanziga had enlisted the help of the northerners in the army to rid the country of her husband.

XXQ's story will be vigorously challenged. He is after all a former spy who is serving a life sentence for his part in the genocide, having been found guilty in a Rwandan court of planning massacres, supervising a system of roadblocks, creating a militia group and distributing firearms. By telling his story he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. There will be accusations that he has been manipulated, and that he has merely used information already in the public domain. But so specific a story deserves a hearing.

XXQ, an officer in the Rwandan gendarmerie, had been a reluctant fighter during the civil war. He had avoided frontline duty, concentrating instead on mundane work at headquarters in Kigali. This allowed him to pursue his unofficial role as an undercover informer for Elie Sagatwa, the president's head of security. Sagatwa, keen to avoid total reliance on Rwanda's official security services, paid XXQ well. President Habyarimana's decision to sign the peace agreement added urgency to Sagatwa's work. Sagatwa believed that "Amasasu," a secret grouping of extremist Hutu army officers, predominately from the north, and furious about what they considered to be a "sell-out" by the president, were planning a coup. One of XXQ's tasks was to monitor the planning of any such coup.

XXQ was not the first witness to tell the ICTR about Amasasu. But he also claimed that by April 1994, the group had started to radicalise the lower grades of the army. The president's power had eroded, he says, and it was the army chief of staff, Déogratias Nsabimana, who held the key to Rwanda's future. Nsabimana headed Amasasu—not Théoneste Bagosora, as had been supposed.

In the early hours of Monday 4th April 1994, two days before the attack on the president's jet, XXQ claims he was given a last assignment by Elie Sagatwa. Summoned by phone to a hotel in Kigali, he met a courier who handed him a brown envelope. In the envelope he found some money and a note from Sagatwa, telling him to go to the Hotel Kivoyu and to identify and follow a Frenchman, who had crossed into Rwanda by land from Burundi the previous evening. The note explained that the man was a mercenary registered in the hotel under a false name, and that his room had been booked for him by the French embassy.

Later that morning, XXQ saw a Peugeot jeep pull up outside the Hotel Kivoyu with two locally stationed French officers whom XXQ recognised. The mercenary got into the Peugeot, and XXQ followed them to Camp Kanombe, a military barracks on the outskirts of Kigali, near the airport. Here, the three Frenchmen spent time in the office of Major Aloys Ntabakuze, commander of Rwanda's elite para-commando unit, who would later be accused of being a member of Amasasu. When the Frenchmen left Ntabakuze's office, they went to the garage where military vehicles were repaired. A jeep belonging to Rwanda's reconnaissance battalion was later driven out of the garage's paint shop. XXQ says it was painted white with UN markings, but had no licence plate. Later that day, he saw the jeep being driven out of the camp by one of the French officers; sitting next to him was the mercenary. Both were now wearing Belgian army uniforms.

XXQ watched them drive a few kilometres to a place called Masaka, a large valley and hill which dominates the military camp. They then left the road and drove up a track, stopping at the marketplace on the top of the hill. They returned to Kanombe before dusk. XXQ found a phone and called Sagatwa. He was curious about what was going on, but says that Sagatwa was as baffled as he was. They speculated that it may hav been a reconnaissance mission for the insertion of weaponry to better defend Kanombe.

The next day the courier met XXQ with another envelope. This time he was told to go to Masaka the following day, Wednesday 6th April, where he was to observe everything that happened until 9pm. The next day he reported that nothing out of the ordinary occurred until late afternoon, when soldiers from the presidential guard arrived, forcibly shutting the market and bars and erecting a roadblock.

As XXQ drove down Masaka hill, he noticed by the side of the road the white jeep and the Peugeot that had collected the mercenary from the hotel. He also recognised Protais Mpiranya, commander of the presidential guard, together with the mercenary and three French officers, including the two he had seen two days earlier. The Frenchmen were wearing Belgian army uniforms and UN blue berets. When Mpiranya spotted XXQ, he got out of his car. XXQ told him that he had been visiting family in Masaka. Mpiranya replied that they were on general alert and that he must leave the area.

At the next junction, XXQ turned his car away from Kigali, and taking the first track, parked his car out of view, directly across the valley from Masaka. He gave a peasant 1,000 Rwandan francs and told him to watch the Masaka junction and to report anything coming or going. At 7pm he entered a local bar, intending to stay, as instructed, until 9pm.

At around 8.15pm, he heard a loud noise. Along with everyone else in the bar, he rushed outdoors to see what was going on, where he claims he saw a missile's "backfire" as it streaked across the sky. The missile hit the motor of the president's Mystère Falcon, readily identifiable through its distinct lights. The jet's wing had already been hit—this was the loud noise XXQ heard from inside the bar—and the plane was veering from side to side. It seemed to take an age for the plane to fall to the ground, and when it finally did there was an almighty explosion. XXQ says that the image of the crashing Falcon has stayed with him ever since.

According to XXQ, the trace of the missile showed it had been fired from the Masaka valley. Other witnesses—both Belgian and Rwandan—who saw the missiles in the night sky later also claimed that they had been fired from Masaka. There were 4,000 troops stationed in nearby Camp Kanombe, under the flight path. Several soldiers saw two missiles. They also heard the plane, recognising its distinctive sound as it came in to land.

"At that moment I suddenly understood everything," XXQ told me. This was the coup Sagatwa, the head of security, had feared. With the death of Habyarimana, the peace agreement was over and the way clear for Hutu extremists to avoid power-sharing and retain their grip on the country. XXQ knew that Sagatwa himself had been on the plane with the president, and that therefore he had no more protection. He knew that plans had been drawn up to kill Tutsi, and realised that they were about to be put into action. Although a Hutu himself, he was terrified for his Tutsi wife and her family.

Shortly after 11pm, says XXQ, a telegram was sent to all army units saying that the president had been assassinated by Belgian UN peacekeepers working with the RPF. It was signed by Théoneste Bagosora. XXQ says he saw the telegram the next morning— but no copy of it has ever been found.

"The French wanted the Belgians out of it," he surmised later. "That's why they used the vehicles and the [Belgian] uniforms." The animosity between the French and the Belgians was well known. The Belgians, the former colonial power, had strong ties with Rwanda but it was France that sent troops to protect the government when the RPF invaded from Uganda in 1990. France's ties with the Hutu government stretched back to 1975, two years after Habyarimana seized power, when the two countries signed a military technical assistance accord. Throughout the civil war, France provided financial and military guarantees, military hardware and training to the Habyarimana regime. This policy seems to have been largely based on a belief that Rwanda was at a crossroads between anglophone and francophone Africa. France feared losing its influence over Rwanda and thus the Great Lakes region. The 1993 Arusha accords signed by Habyarimana with the English-speaking RPF had also been anathema to some French officials.

XXQ is not the first to implicate French nationals in the assassination. In June 1994, just weeks after the missiles were fired, Colette Braeckman, Africa editor of the Brussels-based newspaper Le Soir, published a claim about the possible participation of French soldiers. Braeckman said she had been sent a handwritten note purportedly written by "ThadĂŠe," leader of a Kigali Hutu militia, who claimed that two members of the French military co-operation unit in Kigali had launched the missiles on behalf of CDR, a racist party determined to create a "pure Hutu state" with no Tutsi at all. ThadĂŠe went on to claim that those who fired the missiles had worn Belgian army uniforms stolen from the Hotel Le MĂŠridien, and that French nationals had been spotted leaving Masaka by the presidential guard. Braeckman had checked the story about uniforms with Belgian soldiers. Several told her that uniforms had often been stolen from the hotel laundry. Braeckman gave the ThadĂŠe note to the Belgian security service, and her subsequent story led to a diplomatic objection from the French government.

The French government has maintained from the outset that there were no more than 25 French military assistants in Rwanda at the time of the assassination, all with defined responsibilities. But questions continue about why France gave such unquestioning support to the Habyarimana regime when its abuses against the minority Tutsi were well known.

Within France itself there continued to be persistent accusations of French complicity in the genocide; the French human rights group Survie conducted detailed investigations and public hearings amid claims that the French military had a hand in training and arming extremist militia in Rwanda. In 1998, in the light of a series of articles published in Le Figaro by Patrick de Saint ExupÊry, the Senate established an unprecedented "mission of information" in order to investigate French policy in Rwanda. After a series of public and private hearings, the Senate concluded that France had "in no way incited, encouraged, helped or supported those who orchestrated the genocide." But it also acknowledged that French actions had been "regrettable," and concluded that with overall co-ordination of the policy resting solely with the then president François Mitterrand, parliament should in future have better control over military operations.

The most notable work on the military links between Rwanda and France has come from de Saint ExupĂŠry, who believes that Rwandan officials, working directly with a "lĂŠgion prĂŠsidentielle," created a secret army for Rwanda. This group of elite operatives was answerable only to Mitterrand. According to other French researchers, the French developed their own secret command of the Rwandan army, building in a psychological warfare capability with members trained in manipulating public opinion.

Last year, in the first significant release of declassified material from the Mitterrand archive, documents revealed how prevalent in French government circles was the belief in an "anglophone plot" against France in Africa. There were particular concerns over the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. Many young Rwandan Tutsi refugees in Uganda had joined the Ugandan armed forces to obtain military training and get out of the refugee camps. The RPF had been created from thousands of these recruits. Most of Museveni's top commanders and officers were Rwandan Tutsi. The military leader of the RPF, Paul Kagame, had been Museveni's deputy head of military intelligence, and had fought with him in his guerrilla struggle against Milton Obote. The RPF was well trained, disciplined and had a great deal of combat experience.   One of the French documents, dated 6th May 1994, shows how at the highest levels of the French military establishment there was concern that should the RPF win the civil war and take power in Rwanda, Museveni and his allies would have finally managed to create an English-speaking "Tutsiland" with the "complicity of false French intellectuals" and a "pro-Tutsi lobby." There was a belief that losing Rwanda to anglophone influence would see France's credibility suffer a blow on the African continent from which it would never recover.

Today these French fears are being realised. Under President Kagame, Rwanda has applied to join the Commonwealth, and there is increasing reliance on English as the language of education, commerce and the media. (President Sarkozy is, however, said to be trying to shake up France's traditional approach to Africa, leaving behind the policies that allowed France to actively interfere in African capitals.)

The international court established by the UN security council to try those responsible for genocide is silent on the assassination of Habyarimana. The event is ruled outside the court's mandate on the grounds that the trial judges, in all their rulings, have confirmed the existence of a planned and systematically organised conspiracy to commit genocide. The court has determined that the mass killings could not be considered "a spontaneous reaction" to the assassination of Habyarimana.

The court has, however, provided detailed evidence for events immediately following the assassination, and prosecutors have determined with what speed the subsequent events unfolded. In the hours following the plane crash, Hutu extremists, using lists of names prepared in advance, rounded up and killed the country's prominent political figures, and anyone else—Hutu or Tutsi—who had advocated democracy was hunted down by elite army units. Two days later, an "interim government" was established by the same extremist military officers. For the next three months, this new government would aid and abet the massacres of Tutsi. One of the prosecution lawyers has described how the killing of civilians was "the result of a strategy, a plan organised at the highest level whose objective was to exterminate the Tutsi." The defendants had stoked the fires of ethnic hatred in order to use the militias to kill. The conspirators knew what they were doing.

There are immense difficulties in substantiating XXQ's story. Many of his Hutu extremist colleagues are on the run from international justice, awaiting trial on genocide charges or continuing to fight the Hutu cause in neighbouring DR Congo. At the ICTR, the majority of prisoners are unrepentant and it is rare for either prosecution witnesses or defendants to open up to journalists. Any investigation into the assassination of Habyarimana faces gaps that will doubtless never be filled. Those who are able to fill these gaps are either dead or are in hiding. Protais Mpiranya, commander of the presidential guard, whom XXQ implicates in the murder of the head of state, is the subject of a detailed ICTR indictment detailing his role in the genocide and the orders to kill the prime minister, and has been a fugitive since 1994. My own sources tell me that Mpiranya died in Zimbabwe in 2006.

The failure to conduct an international inquiry into the assassination is extraordinary, given the repeated calls at the time—not least from the UN security council. Initially a formal request was made by the Belgian government to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), but while the missile attack on the plane was discussed at a meeting at the end of April 1994, further consideration was suspended until Belgium could provide information. To this day, as far as can be ascertained, neither Belgium nor any other government has supplied any information at all. This gives what happened on 6th April 1994 the appearance of a perfect crime.

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How to write the perfect crime, according to agatha christie - jamie bernthal.

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With almost 100 mystery novels, each one a cleverly constructed puzzle box of clues, misdirection, and human drama, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her eccentric detectives, clever clues, and simplified suspects have stumped countless readers over the last century. So, how did she craft these perfect crimes? Jamie Bernthal dissects the writing of Agatha Christie.

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Crime As A Social Problem: How To Write An Essay?

Jared Houdi

Table of Contents

the perfect crime essay

Nevertheless, the key to solving the problem lays deeply in it and only through research of every aspect of the problem it can be found. That is exactly why this topic is so popular! You have endless scopes to discover, various information to collect, numerous questions to find answers to, and freedom to compose any personal topic dealing with crime.

But still, all essays on crime are similar to their aim – to discover and to help. You need to realize that any cause-effect connections you may find can indeed help to understand the problem better, develop new methods of preventing, reducing or dealing with crimes and criminals and reveal many other useful things.

How to write crime essay?

Writing an essay on crime is almost the same as writing any other essay. However, remember that you need to be extremely precise with the information you include in your essay – it’s better to check the trustworthiness and accuracy of everything you decided to take on the Internet. What’s more, it is a good idea to rely on statistics and numbers.

Moreover, it is better to choose a specific topic for your essay – that’s how you make it informative and newsworthy. Picking too broad topic will result in writing about everything and nothing. At the same time, choosing a narrow topic may be difficult to write due to the lack of available information.

So, analyze your topic and find the golden middle. These are the main differences in a crime essay.

Here are some basic recommendations:

  • Come up with the topic – not too narrow, not too broad, most importantly – interesting for you.
  • Write an outline and stick to it – any essay needs to be structured both for easier writing and for better perception.
  • Be interested in what you write about.

The best structure for the essay on crime

Any essay should contain three parts – introduction, main body, and conclusion. They may also consist of paragraphs for better understanding while reading. So when you have finally decided on your topic, it is nice to make an outline – it is where all parts of your essay will be highlighted.

Here is a free example of an outline for the essay “Correlations of criminal behavior”:

1. Introduction – here you present all the background information needed to understand your ideas, it is the basis of your research. You may also give some definitions if needed.

2. The main body – to state all your ideas.

  • Gender – discover who does more crimes, men or women. Try to explain or find explanations for the question “why”.
  • Race and immigration – examine people of which race is more likely than others committing crimes. Also, explore how can the status of immigrant influence criminality.
  • Early life – enumerate which factors in early life may be associated with committing crimes later. These may include trauma, family size and relations, alcohol and drug addiction in the family, bullying, low school performance, and many others.
  • Religion – there are a few studies about how religiosity may influence criminality. Discover whether religion increase or decrease crime, how and why. Maybe, different religions have different effects.
  • Political ideology – explore various political ideologies and how they encourage people to behave themselves. Are there any which obviously push people into committing a crime?
  • Psychological traits – explain how psychological background may influence a person. Describe some mental illnesses which may make people aggressive and destructive. Find some statistics to prove your statements.
  • Socioeconomic factors – examine people of which social or economic status are more prone to commit a crime, why? Explain also how the economic situation in family, city, and country may influence criminality. You may even write a poverty and crime essay.

3. Conclusion – make a derivation of everything you have stated. Keep in mind that no new ideas or statements are needed here.

4. References – add a list of the sources you have used in your essay (if needed).

Causes of crime essay

It is doubtless that the government and authorities try to prevent crimes (which is a great idea, by the way!).

Nevertheless, it is still occurring.

The problem with this is that the majority of people can’t understand where it all comes from. To cope with the problem we need to spread the awareness of why crime is done because “just insanity” isn’t usually the answer.

If you decided to write such an essay, here are some ideas for you to consider in your essay:

  • Physical abnormalities – it is still believed that people who encounter some features of appearance are more likely to commit a crime. It is stated that these people have smaller heads, bigger jaws, and ears and are of a certain weight and height. Another determining factor is race.
  • Mental illnesses and psychological disorders – there are some illnesses which make people generally more aggressive.
  • Social and economic factors – it is a well-known fact that people of lower social status commit more crimes. The same is with the economy – the poorer the country is, the more crime is committed.
  • Income and education – it was revealed that educated people are less likely to commit a crime compared to those who are uneducated. What is more, unemployment is regarded as one of the most widespread reasons for crime.
  • White-collar crime – it is a prevalent crime among deputies and high officials. They include bribery, abuse of status, bureaucracy, and others.

Hate crime essay: what’s best to cover?

Hate crime is committed against a group of people or someone who belongs to it. As a rule, race and religion are the main factors. Hate crime itself is a violent act towards a person or a group of people due to their affiliation with a group or organization.

Thousands of people all around the world are suffering since they just profess the religion someone doesn’t like, have another color of skin or encounter some even less noticeable differences. Consider writing a does the death penalty deter crime essay in this context.

Thus this type of crime is indeed worth highlighting. Here is a free sample for you to pick some ideas.

Cybercrime essay: several hints

Cybercrime is a relatively new problem which develops with the Internet and technologies. Only fifteen years ago there wasn’t such a problem. However, it is expected that the global cost of cybercrime will surmount $6 trillion!

Most widespread types of cybercrime include fraud, hacking, identity theft, scamming, computer viruses, ransomware, DDoS attack, botnets, spamming, phishing, social engineering, malvertising, cyberstalking, software piracy, cyberbullying and many others.

This is why the topic is really up-to-date. So you may look through this free example to know where to begin this broad topic.

Final thoughts

All in all, crime is a newsworthy scope to explore and write essays on. Unfortunately, crimes are constantly occurring, and there are lots of information and statistics you may need to discover some specific questions.

Don’t hesitate to examine something you’re really interested in, no matter how “important” it is considered! Good luck!

Can’t wait to fight all the crime around the globe? We’ll help! Order your perfect essay on crime and cut yourself free for anything you have on your mind.

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The Perfect Crime

Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 93, No. 2, 2005

MSU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 02-14

15 Pages Posted: 25 Mar 2005 Last revised: 29 Jun 2018

Brian C. Kalt

Michigan State University College of Law

Date Written: 2005

This article argues that there is a 50-square-mile swath of Idaho in which one might be able to commit felonies with impunity. This is because of the intersection of a poorly drafted statute with a clear but neglected constitutional provision: the Sixth Amendment's Vicinage Clause. Although lesser criminal charges and civil liability still loom, the remaining possibility of criminals going free over a needless technical failure by Congress is difficult to stomach. No criminal defendant has ever broached the subject, let alone faced the numerous (though unconvincing) counterarguments. This shows that vicinage is not taken seriously by lawyers or judges. Still, Congress should close the Idaho loophole, not pretend it does not exist.

Keywords: Juries, Venue, Vicinage,Sixth Amendment, Federal lands, Criminal law, Criminal procedure, Constitutional law

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K19

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Brian C. Kalt (Contact Author)

Michigan state university college of law ( email ).

318 Law College Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1300 United States 517-432-6987 (Phone) 517-432-6879 (Fax)

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The Perfect Crime Essay

Genre:Crime thiller Story draft: Two cops were deliberately challenged by an unknown figure to solve few crimes committed by him. Each of this crime leads to the identity of the villain. He wants the cops to admit that he’s the perfect crime’ster. 1st crime:Bank robbery Using sonar technology(dark knight),villain gets the 3d map of the bank.

On the day of the execution,2 masked mens glides from one roof to the banks roof. 1 of them heads to the ventilation and the other heads to the telephone and security alarm system of the bank. nd robber dis-alarms the security system and the other adds chloroform to the air ventilation system. After 10 minutes,2 robbers enters the bank and they lock up the front door indicating its close. All four of them rushes to the vault and starts drilling. Click. Vaults open as the four robbers rushes and starts filling the cash in a garbage bag. They rush to the back emergency door and place the garbage bags filled with money in the trash bin and runs away in taxi.

Moments later,police comes to the crime scene and starts to rush into the building. A garbage truck comes by and collects all the trash and leaves. 2nd crime:Gold bar heist While closing hours,the owner of a big jewelery shop was waiting for the arrival of huge amounts of gold bars illegally brought in from africa. The owner had the company of four call girls who was flirting with him.

the perfect crime essay

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The owner receives a text message saying that the golds have arrived. He heads down to assist them to unload.

Soon as the unloading finishes,the owner heads up stairs where the call girls were waiting for him. 1 of them seduces him and lays him on the bed while another girl gave him a pill claiming that it was a erection enhancement pill. The owner takes the pill and sleeps off. The girls head down and doing all the neccesary stuffs like shutting of the cameras and security alarms,filling all the gold bars in a bag and leaving the place within 15 minutes Hero arrives at the first crime scene analyzing the details. Heroin analyzes the second crime scene.

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The Perfect Crime Essay

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

Student sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

Discover More

Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure. 

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

  • YES (agreement with the question)
  • AND (another YES point)
  • BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

  • AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

  • YES (descriptions of her appearance)
  • AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
  • BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Smiling student typing on laptop

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

  • Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
  • Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
  • Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
  • Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
  • Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
  • Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
  • Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
  • Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
  • Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Person reading a book outside

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.
Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing. 

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How to Write the Perfect Essay: A Step-By-Step Guide for Students

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  • June 2, 2022

the perfect crime essay

  • What is an essay? 

What makes a good essay?

Typical essay structure, 7 steps to writing a good essay, a step-by-step guide to writing a good essay.

Whether you are gearing up for your GCSE coursework submissions or looking to brush up on your A-level writing skills, we have the perfect essay-writing guide for you. 💯

Staring at a blank page before writing an essay can feel a little daunting . Where do you start? What should your introduction say? And how should you structure your arguments? They are all fair questions and we have the answers! Take the stress out of essay writing with this step-by-step guide – you’ll be typing away in no time. 👩‍💻

student-writing

What is an essay?

Generally speaking, an essay designates a literary work in which the author defends a point of view or a personal conviction, using logical arguments and literary devices in order to inform and convince the reader.

So – although essays can be broadly split into four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive – an essay can simply be described as a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. 🤔

The purpose of an essay is to present a coherent argument in response to a stimulus or question and to persuade the reader that your position is credible, believable and reasonable. 👌

So, a ‘good’ essay relies on a confident writing style – it’s clear, well-substantiated, focussed, explanatory and descriptive . The structure follows a logical progression and above all, the body of the essay clearly correlates to the tile – answering the question where one has been posed. 

But, how do you go about making sure that you tick all these boxes and keep within a specified word count? Read on for the answer as well as an example essay structure to follow and a handy step-by-step guide to writing the perfect essay – hooray. 🙌

Sometimes, it is helpful to think about your essay like it is a well-balanced argument or a speech – it needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question in a coherent manner. ⚖️

Of course, essays can vary significantly in length but besides that, they all follow a fairly strict pattern or structure made up of three sections. Lean into this predictability because it will keep you on track and help you make your point clearly. Let’s take a look at the typical essay structure:  

#1 Introduction

Start your introduction with the central claim of your essay. Let the reader know exactly what you intend to say with this essay. Communicate what you’re going to argue, and in what order. The final part of your introduction should also say what conclusions you’re going to draw – it sounds counter-intuitive but it’s not – more on that below. 1️⃣

Make your point, evidence it and explain it. This part of the essay – generally made up of three or more paragraphs depending on the length of your essay – is where you present your argument. The first sentence of each paragraph – much like an introduction to an essay – should summarise what your paragraph intends to explain in more detail. 2️⃣

#3 Conclusion

This is where you affirm your argument – remind the reader what you just proved in your essay and how you did it. This section will sound quite similar to your introduction but – having written the essay – you’ll be summarising rather than setting out your stall. 3️⃣

No essay is the same but your approach to writing them can be. As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. 👍

#1 Make sure you understand the question

#2 complete background reading.

#3 Make a detailed plan 

#4 Write your opening sentences 

#5 flesh out your essay in a rough draft, #6 evidence your opinion, #7 final proofread and edit.

Now that you have familiarised yourself with the 7 steps standing between you and the perfect essay, let’s take a closer look at each of those stages so that you can get on with crafting your written arguments with confidence . 

This is the most crucial stage in essay writing – r ead the essay prompt carefully and understand the question. Highlight the keywords – like ‘compare,’ ‘contrast’ ‘discuss,’ ‘explain’ or ‘evaluate’ – and let it sink in before your mind starts racing . There is nothing worse than writing 500 words before realising you have entirely missed the brief . 🧐

Unless you are writing under exam conditions , you will most likely have been working towards this essay for some time, by doing thorough background reading. Re-read relevant chapters and sections, highlight pertinent material and maybe even stray outside the designated reading list, this shows genuine interest and extended knowledge. 📚

#3 Make a detailed plan

Following the handy structure we shared with you above, now is the time to create the ‘skeleton structure’ or essay plan. Working from your essay title, plot out what you want your paragraphs to cover and how that information is going to flow. You don’t need to start writing any full sentences yet but it might be useful to think about the various quotes you plan to use to substantiate each section. 📝

Having mapped out the overall trajectory of your essay, you can start to drill down into the detail. First, write the opening sentence for each of the paragraphs in the body section of your essay. Remember – each paragraph is like a mini-essay – the opening sentence should summarise what the paragraph will then go on to explain in more detail. 🖊️

Next, it's time to write the bulk of your words and flesh out your arguments. Follow the ‘point, evidence, explain’ method. The opening sentences – already written – should introduce your ‘points’, so now you need to ‘evidence’ them with corroborating research and ‘explain’ how the evidence you’ve presented proves the point you’re trying to make. ✍️

With a rough draft in front of you, you can take a moment to read what you have written so far. Are there any sections that require further substantiation? Have you managed to include the most relevant material you originally highlighted in your background reading? Now is the time to make sure you have evidenced all your opinions and claims with the strongest quotes, citations and material. 📗

This is your final chance to re-read your essay and go over it with a fine-toothed comb before pressing ‘submit’. We highly recommend leaving a day or two between finishing your essay and the final proofread if possible – you’ll be amazed at the difference this makes, allowing you to return with a fresh pair of eyes and a more discerning judgment. 🤓

If you are looking for advice and support with your own essay-writing adventures, why not t ry a free trial lesson with GoStudent? Our tutors are experts at boosting academic success and having fun along the way. Get in touch and see how it can work for you today. 🎒

1-May-12-2023-09-09-32-6011-AM

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Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Law Enforcement — Crime Prevention: A Multifaceted Approach to a Complex Issue

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Crime Prevention: a Multifaceted Approach to a Complex Issue

  • Categories: Criminal Procedure Law Enforcement

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Published: Jun 6, 2024

Words: 778 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

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The role of community engagement, economic and educational interventions, the importance of mental health support, technological innovations and law enforcement.

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the perfect crime essay

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  1. PDF The Perfect Crime

    THE PERFECT CRIME ing one) of proper community representation.13 But the vicinage requirement is still there, it is unambiguous, and it waits like a rusty nail to infect the unwary. II. A STATUTORY BARE FOOT The "zone of death" that motivated this Essay sits at the perimeter of Yellowstone National Park.

  2. The Perfect Crime Essay

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    The Perfect Crime. Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 93, No. 2, 2005. MSU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 02-14. ... PAPERS. 15,751. This Journal is curated by: Matthew D. Adler at Duke University School of Law, Brian Bix at University of Minnesota Law School. Criminal Law eJournal. Follow.

  4. The Perfect Crime

    by Edward Dooley. Issue #11. Spring 1977. Her eyes beguile as only the eyes of the beautiful dead can beguile and beckon: as eye-signs in a rebus of painful desire. In her wan complexion, a golden aura endowed by our staring enhances her presence, detailing her sudden,... Purchase an archive subscription to see the rest of this article. Add to ...

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    The Perfect Crime. Author(s): Brian C. Kalt Date: 2005 Group(s): MSU Law Faculty Repository Subject(s): Conflict of laws, Constitutional law, Criminal law Item Type: Article ... Marbled papers 1; Marginalia 5; Marginalia in art 1; Marginality, Social, in literature 1; Marine art 1; Marine debris 1; Marine ecology 2; Marine pollution 2;

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  9. The Perfect Crime

    In his new book, perhaps the most cogent expression of his mature thought, Jean Baudrillard turns detective in order to investigate a crime which he hopes may yet be solved: the murder of reality. To solve the crime would be to unravel the social and technological processes by which reality has quite simply vanished under the deadly glare of media real time. But Baudrillard is not merely ...

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  19. PDF The Perfect Crime

    The Perfect Crime BRIAN C. KALT* INTRODUCTION You may have daydreamed about it: some forgotten constitutional provision, combined with an obscure statute, that together make it possible for people in the know to commit crimes with impunity. Whether you were looking for opportunities to commit crimes or afraid that somebody else was, the possibility

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    They rush to the back emergency door and place the garbage bags filled with money in the trash bin and runs away in taxi. Moments later,police comes to the crime scene and starts to rush into the building. A garbage truck comes by and collects all the trash and leaves. 2nd crime:Gold bar heist While closing hours,the owner of a big jewelery ...

  22. How to Write the Perfect Essay

    Step 2: Have a clear structure. Think about this while you're planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question. Start with the basics! It's best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs.

  23. How to Write the Perfect Essay: A Step-By-Step Guide for Students

    As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. 👍. #1 Make sure you understand the question. #2 Complete background reading. #3 Make a detailed plan. #4 Write your opening sentences.

  24. Crime Prevention: A Multifaceted Approach to a Complex Issue: [Essay

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