It is the spirit and not the form of law
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
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.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
The reformative effect of punishment is
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
We are prisoners of ideas.
We are prisoners of ideas.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
Those magistrates who can prevent crime,
Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.
It is not at the table, but in prison,
It is not at the table, but in prison, that you learn who your true friends are.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
In a civilized society, all crimes are
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
Federal prison, if you get any of it,
Federal prison, if you get any of it, you're going to have to do 85% of it. And the reason why I called it that is because I had a friend who got sent to the federal joint and his whole... it wasn't about him being in jail. He cried about the 85%.
Laws do not persuade just because they
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
Shyness is the prison of the heart.
Shyness is the prison of the heart.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that.
It is certain that the study of human
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.
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.
I sometimes wish that people would put a
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
The refined punishments of the spiritual
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
One crime has to be concealed by
One crime has to be concealed by another.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
