How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
In a civilized society, all crimes are
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
The difference between tax avoidance and
The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison walls.
Before we can diminish our sufferings
Before we can diminish our sufferings from the ill-controlled aggressive assaults of fellow citizens, we must renounce the philosophy of punishment, the obsolete, vengeful penal attitude. In its place we would seek a comprehensive, constructive social attitude - therapeutic in some instances, restraining in some instances, but preventive in its total social impact. In the last analysis this becomes a question of personal morals and values. No matter how glorified or how piously disguised, vengeance as a human motive must be personally repudiated by each and every one of us.
The refined punishments of the spiritual
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
No obligation to justice does force a
No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
What restrains us from killing is partly
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
He who profits by a crime commits it.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.
There are few better measures of the
There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals.
Money will determine whether the accused
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
Crimes generally punish themselves.
Crimes generally punish themselves.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
Three hundred years ago a prisoner
Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: “It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.”
I existed in a world that never is - the
I existed in a world that never is - the prison of the mind.
Any punishment that does not correct,
Any punishment that does not correct, that can merely rouse rebellion in whoever has to endure it, is a piece of gratuitous infamy which makes those who impose it more guilty in the eyes of humanity, good sense and reason, nay a hundred times more guilty than the victim on whom the punishment is inflicted.
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.
We shall fight against them, throw them
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.
If we were brought to trial for the
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
I submit that an individual who breaks a
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
