I have been studying how I may compare
I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world; And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Wicked deeds are generally done, even
Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury has retired, and says: "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else, except two men who ought to have dined at three and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch:--"Well, gentlemen, what do we say, plaintiff or defendant, gentlemen?
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
I don't like jail, they got the wrong
I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.
Money will determine whether the accused
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
Fear can be like a prison. It is,
Fear can be like a prison. It is, however, a self made prison. Many are imprisoned by fear. No one else can liberate them from this prison. Others may inspire them but they must liberate themselves.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
Justice is justice though it's always
Justice is justice though it's always delayed and finally done only by mistake.
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
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.
When is conduct a crime, and when is a
When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There -- a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator -- so decrees.
Punishment, that is the justice for the
Punishment, that is the justice for the unjust.
The only effect of public punishment is
The only effect of public punishment is to show the rabble how bravely it can be borne; and that every one who hath lost a toe-nail hath suffered worse.
While crime is punished it yet
While crime is punished it yet increases.
Civilization is maintained by a very few
Civilization is maintained by a very few people in a small number of places and we need only some bombs and a few prisons to blot it out altogether.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch;
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
Laws do not persuade just because they
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
So justice while she winks at crimes,
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
The public have more interest in the
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
