It is better that ten guilty persons
It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.
While crime is punished it yet
While crime is punished it yet increases.
In the halls of justice, the only
In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom
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.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
Concepts of justice must have hands and
Concepts of justice must have hands and feet to carry out justice in every case in the shortest possible time and the lowest possible cost. That is the challenge to every lawyer and judge in America.
Before we can diminish our sufferings
Before we can diminish our sufferings from the ill-controlled aggressive assaults of fellow citizens, we must renounce the philosophy of punishment, the obsolete, vengeful penal attitude. In its place we would seek a comprehensive, constructive social attitude - therapeutic in some instances, restraining in some instances, but preventive in its total social impact. In the last analysis this becomes a question of personal morals and values. No matter how glorified or how piously disguised, vengeance as a human motive must be personally repudiated by each and every one of us.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
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.
There is no greater punishment of
There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.
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.
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks to the murderer like the voice of solitude.
Forgiveness, that noblest of all
Forgiveness, that noblest of all self-denial, is a virtue which he alone who can practise in himself can willingly believe in another.
If you strike at, imprison, or kill us,
If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!
The contagion of crime is like that of
The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other; they are worse than ever when at the termination of their punishment they re-enter society.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
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.
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.
The number of laws is constantly growing
The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.
Corporal punishment falls far more
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
