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.
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.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
Our task must be to free ourselves from
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
No obligation to justice does force a
No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.
They're not supposed to show prison
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
The only difference between me and my
The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail.
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.
The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
If we look at Houston, which is a very
If we look at Houston, which is a very environmentally toxic place, we find that it has one of the highest levels of young men going to prison and also among the highest levels of illiteracy in the country.
It becomes not a law-maker to be a
It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
The only real prison is fear, and the
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
We judge ourselves by what we feel
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
The English laws punish vice; the
The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.
In my country we go to prison first and
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
A man will be imprisoned in a room with
A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards, as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
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.
No matter how you seem to fatten on a
No matter how you seem to fatten on a crime, that can never be good for the bee which is bad for the hive.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
Taught from infancy that beauty is
Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.