Punishment, that is the justice for the
Punishment, that is the justice for the unjust.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
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.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
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.
The degree of civilization in a society
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
Let us remember that justice must be
Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.
Well, I don't think prisons are the
Well, I don't think prisons are the answer to everything, obviously.
Wicked deeds are generally done, even
Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.
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.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
The severest justice may not always be
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
The law does not pretend to punish
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
Oh who is that young sinner with the
Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrist? And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists? And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.
I existed in a world that never is - the
I existed in a world that never is - the prison of the mind.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
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.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
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.
Crimes generally punish themselves.
Crimes generally punish themselves.
There is a point at which even justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
Faults of the head are punished in this
Faults of the head are punished in this world, those of the heart in another; but as most of our vices are compound, so also is their punishment.
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.
