You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
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.
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
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.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
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.
It is safer that a bad man should not be accused, than that he should be acquitted.
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
You utter a vow, or forge a signature, and you may find yourself bound for life to a monastery, a woman, or prison.
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world; And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
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!
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
I existed in a world that never is - the prison of the mind.
To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
One crime has to be concealed by another.
