Quotes

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.

Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?

Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.

I don't like being famous - it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse.

Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrist? And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists? And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.

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.

The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.

The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.

Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.

So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.

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.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.

Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.

Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.

It is safer that a bad man should not be accused, than that he should be acquitted.

What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.

The best situation of all, and one frequently utilized, is for jails and prisons to allow volunteer ministers of all faiths to enter prisons and offer their services to the inmates who want them. That way, the religious needs of inmates are met but without government funds being spent.

I know not whether laws be right, or whether laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol is that the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year, a year whose days are long.

The uneven impact of actual enforcement measures tends to mirror and reinforce more general patterns of discrimination (along socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, sexual, and perhaps generational lines) within the society. As a consequence, such enforcement (ineffective as it may be in producing conformity) almost certainly reinforces feelings of alienation already prevalent within major segments of the population.

In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.

I can work for the Lord in or out of prison.

While crime is punished it yet increases.