Michael Connelly Quotes

I think some parts of the American justice system have gone haywire.

Law and order is one of the steps taken to maintain injustice.

Cheery was aware that Commander Vimes didn't like the phrase 'The innocent have nothing to fear', believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like 'The innocent have nothing to fear'.

The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble; but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned.

It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted.

Using legally approved tricks and lies, the detective coerces a false confession. Hiding facts that support innocence, the prosecutor forces a dubious plea of guilt. The judge sentences for acquitted conduct, as she is allowed to do. The defense attorney for the poor, overworked because of underfunding by the state, fails to summon sufficient resources to investigate and rebut. The legal immigrant is deported with no meaningful access to constitutional rights. These intrusions are woven into the statutes and enabled by courts

Due process does not require that every conceivable step be taken, at whatever cost, to eliminate the possibility of convicting an innocent person. To conclude otherwise would all but paralyze our system for enforcement of the criminal law.

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

God forbid that the defendant should not be allowed the benefit of every advantage he is entitled to by law.

By removing the obligation to scrutinize evidence, we allow ourselves to operate on pre-existing prejudices, reducing our courts of law to mere kangaroo courts. A world without due process would contain far more injustice than we face today. Although some victims fight uphill evidential battles, we cannot make a better world by ditching due process. Rather, we must find ways of accounting for the difficult burdens of proof faced by some people, while also preserving the legitimacy of the law. This approach may be less gratifying than simply Tweeting #believethevictim, but it aims to preserve civil liberties that we all – regardless of identity – should cherish.

I was very upset because I did not have a fair trial to prove my loyalty to this country.

Whether a man is guilty or innocent, we have to find that out by due process of law.

Justice is no longer a concern of the justice system.

Strict law is often great injustice.

I therefore believe that our system does not have a word for failed trial, and that is where the American public does not realize that our criminal justice system sometimes makes mistakes.

Believing a person deserves a defence is not the same as doing anything in your power to get him off scot-free.

Sentence first, verdict afterwards.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

I think that all of us, as Americans, are due due process and have a right to a fair trial, and have a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. I think that is the American way and it's the foundation upon which this country was built.

See, justice is a joke in this country, and it stinks of its hypocricy.

Every American deserves their day in court. Every American is innocent until proven guilty. These are core values enshrined in our founding document - the United States Constitution.

People are entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Delay in justice is injustice.

Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people; and behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him.

Fortunately, the courts discharged me every time after they understood what I had done.