Clarence Darrow, a famous American criminal defense attorney (1857–1938), believed that human behavior is determined by circumstances out of our control. In his “Address to the Prisoners in the Cook...

Clarence Darrow, a famous American criminal defense attorney (1857–1938), believed that human behavior is determined by circumstances out of our control. In his “Address to the Prisoners in the Cook County (Chicago) Jail,” Darrow told the inmates: In one sense, everybody is equally good and equally bad. . . . There were circumstances that drove you to do exactly the thing which you did. You could not help it any more than we outside can help taking the position we take. . . . I will guarantee to take from this jail, or any jail in the world, five hundred men who have been the worst criminals and law-breakers who ever got into jail. And I will go down to our lowest streets and take five hundred of the most abandoned prostitutes, and go out somewhere where there is plenty of good land, and will give them a chance to make a living, and they will be as good people as the average in the community

Identify the premises and conclusion in Darrow’s argument. Evaluate the soundness of his argument. Discuss how Rosenbaum might respond to Darrow’s claim that criminals are simply products of their environments and do not deserve to be punished.