Quotes About Punishment

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

Sociologists have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patterns.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

You could adjust the punishment to fit the infraction. Even a small fine would be enough to bring an errant government to heel.

Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order.

Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.

Any company executive who overcharges the government more than $5 million will be fined $50 or have to go to traffic school three nights a week

At the end of the day, perhaps the best argument against capital punishment may be that it is an issue beyond the limited capacity of government to get things right.

Fancy that thou deservest to be hangedthou wilt feel it happiness to be only shot: fancy that thou deservest to be hanged ina hair halter, it will be a luxury to die in hemp.

The punishment of murder by death is contrary to reason, and to the order and happiness of society, and contrary to divine revelation.

but the crime is more important than the punishment. I enliven all of me in my happy instinct for destruction.

In prison we are their jailers On trial their judges Persecuted their punishers Dead their conquerors

Punishment is not prevention. History offers cold comfort to those who think grievance and despair can be subdued by force.

The U.S. incarcerates more of its people than any nation in the world, or any nation in history.

L.A.: Come on vacation, go home on probation.

Thieves at home must hang; but he that puts Into his overgorged and bloated purse The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.

Eventually, there will not be enough prisons if there are not enough good homes.

Penalty is different than punishment, because it offers something with which to regain honor.

Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

If people are good because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Exemplary people concern themselves with virtue, small people concern themselves with territory. The ruling class thinks of punishment, the lower classes hope for benevolence.

Let him that sows the serpent's teeth not hope to reap a joyous harvest. Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, its own avenging angel,--dark misgivings at the inmost heart.

I was really in to shiny things when I was younger and I stole a shiny tag for my dog. I didn't get caught. I hope I don't go to jail for that.

Was it your strategy to just take as much punishment as you could and then hope he would fall down?