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.
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison,
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.
It is safer that a bad man should not be
It is safer that a bad man should not be accused, than that he should be acquitted.
Let us remember that justice must be
Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.
The worst prison is not of stone. It is
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
Society prepares the crime; the criminal
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
Definition, rationality, and structure
Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.
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.
They took away my money, my family, and
They took away my money, my family, and my security. Why couldn't they destroy my ideas? We will question them in court tomorrow as we trigger The Revolution of all revolutions!
Clemency alone makes us equal to the
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
Three hundred years ago a prisoner
Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: “It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.”
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
While we have prisons it matters little
While we have prisons it matters little which of us occupy the cells.
Man is condemned to be free.
Man is condemned to be free.
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
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.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
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.