Crime is a logical extension of the sort
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
One of the problems that the marijuana
One of the problems that the marijuana reform movement consistently faces is that everyone wants to talk about what marijuana does, but no one ever wants to look at what marijuana prohibition does. Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.
Mere factual innocence is no reason not
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.
A country is in a bad state, which is
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose.
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.
Whatever is worthy to be loved for
Whatever is worthy to be loved for anything is worthy of preservation. A wise and dispassionate legislator, if any such should ever arise among men, will not condemn to death him who has done or is likely to do more service than injury to society. Blocks and gibbets are the nearest objects with legislators, and their business is never with hopes or with virtues.
We shall fight against them, throw them
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
Care should be taken that the punishment
Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted.
Every crime has, in the moment of its
Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, Its own avenging angel--dark misgiving, An ominous sinking at the inmost heart.
The virtue of justice consists in
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
The punishment can be remitted; the
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
No man should be judge in his own case.
No man should be judge in his own case.
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.
It was only when I lay there on the
It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
Every instance of a man's suffering the
Every instance of a man's suffering the penalty of the law is an instance of the failure of that penalty in effecting its purpose, which is to deter.
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.
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.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
