Mr. Darrow has referred in the case to hanging. Mr. Darrow is a student of criminology; he has written a book on it and he says the criminal age, the time when crimes are committed, is between the age of 17 and 24. And Your Honor and I know that the average criminal age is 22.
If we are going to punish crime and by the punishment stop it, and the criminal age is between 17 and 24, how can we punish it if the age is a defense?
The Statute that Your Honor is bound to enforce in this case, and the statute under which we are trying these defendants further provides that from 14 years of age up the law presumes that he has the capacity to commit a crime and is entirely and thoroughly responsible for it.