The case studies involve the trials of Richard A. Loeb and Nathan F. Leopold, Jr., the Scottsboro "boys," Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Alger Hiss, and O.J. Simpson. The studies highlight significant lessons about criminal behavior and the administration of criminal justice. Each case study details the crime, the police investigation, and the court proceedings; it profiles the major players and examines the outcome and aftermath of the trial. The book analyzes the perplexities associated with each case and illuminates the many mysteries that remain unsolved even today. These celebrated trials reveal issues of overzealous prosecution; sloppy police work; judicial bias; race, class, and ethnic struggles; and the role of wealth in securing a competent defense. They also show how the temper of the times and frenzied media coverage intensified the drama of the cases. Taken together, these well-publicized, highly controversial "crimes of the century" and the public battleground on which they sought resolution disclose the tensions, inadequacies, and underlying elements of criminal justice adjudication in America. Subject index