Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Sentence first, verdict afterwards.

If you hang them all, you will get the guilty. But that's not the American way of doing things.

I don't want to harm my government. I want to help my government. But the fact that they are willing to completely ignore due process, they're willing to declare guilt without ever seeing a trial, these are things that we need to work against as a society and say, 'Hey, this is not appropriate.'

This is really a pretty good system you have here. What do you call it? "Due process". We're very proud of it.

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.

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

No person should suffer … without being brought to answer by due course and process of law

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.

China has not established the rule of law and thus there is no justice.

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

We have a system of jurisprudence. You are innocent until proven guilty. You have a right to counsel. And you have a right to hospitalization if you are ill. That is our system. And it's what makes this country special and what makes this country great.

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

Criminal justice is about respecting the law and being respected by the law so there is a fundamental respect issue here.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

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

The goal is justice, not executions. We all want to make sure the process is fair and that the right person is punished. These recommendations are essential to that goal.

And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice.

When I was a prosecutor in Kansas City, my job was to fight for justice and safety for all citizens in my community. Equal access to justice under the law is an American value embedded in the fabric of our legal and political system - the idea that anybody, powerful or not, can have their day in court.

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.

No man can be judged a criminal until he is found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection until it has been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorize the punishment of a citizen so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt?

Yes, people need food and education. But one of the cornerstones of any society is a well-functioning legal system.

Preventing the arbitrary administration of punishment is a basic ideal of any society that purports to be governed by the rule of law.

No Man ought to be looked upon as guilty, before he has received his judicial Sentence; nor can the Laws deprive him of their Protection, before it is proved that he has forfeited all Right to it.

It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.

Legal process is an essential part of the democratic process.