The scapegoating of Bruno Richard Hauptmann: The rhetorical process in prejudicial publicity

Both legal and academic attempts to define prejudicial publicity have concentrated on characterizations of the accused criminal. This paper examines the entire publicity process, beginning with the journalists’ original coverage of the crime. Applying Burke's theory of human victimage to coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping in the 30's, the author concludes that publicity becomes prejudicial when the crime itself is characterized as both a sin against the entire public, and a result of their societal transgressions. This characterization creates the need for a perfectly fitting villain /victim to purge the public of its collective guilt. Unfortunately, this very need raises such interest in the trial process that doubts about the conviction arise, so that the true fittingness of the victim becomes doubtful, and redemption is never perfectly achieved.