criminal minds

I just read "criminal minds" from the magazine Smithsonion. The author narrates a story about a kidnapping and murder committed by two teenagers in 1924. He begins with the intimacy between two intelligent boys-- Leopold and Loeb, who went to college on their 14 and 15 respectively. They were both obsessed with crime, especially Leopold, who regarded himself as a superman. As a result, they kidnapped Loeb's cousin Bobby and murdered him. Afterward, it comes a violent debate--should the two boys be executed? The author use a huge page to depict the attempt of the prosecution and the defendant. Finally, the defendant won. In spite of being sentenced to life imprisonment, two young men were exempted from execution.

The title "criminal minds" attracts me. I'm curious about what are the criminals thinking about? Why do they want to commit the crimes, in particular high crimes, such as murder? Another interesting issue is that should execution be taken place? Do we have rights to take someone's life? The article also presents the argument: Do we have to take full responsibility of ourselves?
These questions interest me. Even though it's hard to find answers from this article, it gives some good examples which make it possible for me to think more deeply.