Adversities such as being homeless and
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
To make punishments efficacious, two
To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
One should respect public opinion
One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
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.
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.
Educate your children to self-control,
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future lives and crimes to society.
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.
There is no peace because the making of
There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
Man is condemned to be free.
Man is condemned to be free.
Body is a home, a prison and a grave.
Body is a home, a prison and a grave.
When you are younger you get blamed for
When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.
I know how men in exile feed on dreams
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
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.
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.
Probably the only place where a man can
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
I never saw a man who looked With such a
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
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.
There is a point at which even justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
