He was a first-time nonviolent possible
He was a first-time nonviolent possible offender, ... And under the mandatory minimums, he was put in prison for 15 years. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but the mandatory minimums don't give judges any discretion to look at the background of the case, to read into the specifics of the case. I don't know a judge who really is in favor of the mandatory minimums.
Prison continues, on those who are
Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
Corporal punishment falls far more
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
Law is merely the expression of the will
Law is merely the expression of the will of the strongest for the time being, and therefore laws have no fixity, but shift from generation to generation.
We don't seem to be able to check crime,
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
We are prisoners of ideas.
We are prisoners of ideas.
A country is in a bad state, which is
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose.
A just chastisement may benefit a man,
A just chastisement may benefit a man, though it seldom does; but an unjust one changes all his blood to gall.
In prison, you get the chance to see who
In prison, you get the chance to see who really loves you.
It is the deed that teaches, not the
It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their own kind.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
He who does not prevent a crime when he
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
Hanging was the worst use a man could be
Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.
The severest justice may not always be
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
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.”
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
If two people fight on the street, whose
If two people fight on the street, whose fault is it? Who is the criminal? It is the government’s responsibility because the government has not educated the people to not make mistakes. The people have inadequate, incompetent education, so they make mistakes! It is such a fraud.
