Most people fancy themselves innocent of
The only effect of public punishment is
The only effect of public punishment is to show the rabble how bravely it can be borne; and that every one who hath lost a toe-nail hath suffered worse.
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.
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison,
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.
The most anxious man in a prison is the
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
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.
A Sunday school is a prison in which
A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
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.
Why would anyone expect him to come out
Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
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.
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.
A variety in punishment is of utility,
A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.
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.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
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.
Society prepares the crime; the criminal
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
The perfection of a thing consists in
The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
Nothing can be more abhorrent to
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
