TIMES OF ISRAEL
Pair of privileged Jewish teens first used ‘affluenza’ defense in 1924
by Curt Schleier
February 8, 2016

…Though press accounts didn’t mention it, [Ethan] Couch wasn’t the first high-profile case to use the “affluenza” defense. That dubious honor goes to two young Jewish men accused of committing the “crime of the century” over 90 years ago — Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. The names Leopold and Loeb live on, but for most people, what they did has become clouded in the mists of history. That will likely change after PBS airs the American Experience documentary “The Perfect Crime” on Tuesday, February 9, which examines this blockbuster case. The pair, both 19, seemed to have it all. Leopold and Loeb were both scions of families worth multi-millions of dollars in 1920s Chicago, back when a million bucks still meant something. They were smart, University of Chicago students who believed themselves “ubermenschen,” as defined by Nietzsche — so exceptional that they are not bound by law or morality. READ MORE