Natalie Merchant Quotes

Juveniles as well as adults need to know they're going to be punished for their violent acts.

Prison has a universal fascination. It's a real-life horror story because, given the right set of circumstances, anyone could find themselves behind bars.

I am deeply saddened to hear that the man who murdered my brother, Michael Ensley, has been charged with murder again. I grieve for every family who has been victimized by this heinous individual. My prayers and love go out to the family of Demetra Doyle Heard during this trying time.

I should still be in jail.

We make no apology for people who should be in prison being in prison.

I spent my first three weeks there on a wing with 21 murderers. I met some very evil people there but also some men who'd had no upbringing, no chance in life.

I went to prison, I paid my bill.

Jail was probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me.

I'm an equal opportunity incarcerator.

People want to kill people because they don't want them out on the street again.

Bad people should be incarcerated.

The key for members of the public is that they want criminals to be punished. They want them taken off the streets. They also want criminals who come out of prison to go straight.

Given the devastation that crime can visit on families and communities, I will err on being a little too tough on crime than being too soft on crime.

A proper criminal justice system exacts justice - that is, punishes criminals for their crimes. Rehabilitation and deterrence are worthy goals, but they are secondary to retribution.

Violent felons and people with mental health problems need to be rehabilitated.

I think that far too often we let those who commit crimes in our society off far too lightly.

A community is infinitely more brutalised by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurence of crime.

One of my younger homies, he went to jail, and some people came to me and were like, "Bail him out," and I said no. Why would I bail him out? He's going to prison. Let him sit and get some time served. You want to be crazy, but you don't want to go to jail. You want to shoot people, but you don't want to kill people. That's such a misleading thing.

People behave badly and people are in prison and people are on death row, and there are no excuses for everybody's behavior, but most people are coming from abuse.

Crime, to the man of the forties, was an alien monstrous terror.

It's very hard to be cut off in Glasgow because it's such a small city. You know, we have the highest rate of per-capita imprisonment, certainly in Britain, maybe in Europe. We have a very high murder rate here. So most people will know someone who's been to prison.

Crime is naught but misdirected energy.

People who commit crimes should be responsible for those crimes. It doesn't matter whether they're priests or ministers or atheists.

People in general have a preconceived idea of what prison is, from seeing documentaries or whatever.

The liberation of those who commit murder and terrorism is unacceptable.