The number of laws is constantly growing
The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
I can work for the Lord in or out of
I can work for the Lord in or out of prison.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
Corporal punishment falls far more
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
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.
Once we are destined to live out our
Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.
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.
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
The reformative effect of punishment is
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
There is a point at which even justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
I have been studying how I may compare
I have been studying how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world; Shut up in the prison of their own consciences.
No crime has been without a precedent.
No crime has been without a precedent.
A Sunday school is a prison in which
A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
There is no greater punishment of
There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that.
Well does Heaven have care that no man
Well does Heaven have care that no man secures happiness by crime.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
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.
