Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

The consequences of a crime should not be out of proportion to the crime itself.

The fear of murder has grown so enormous in the United States that it leaves a taint, like the mark of Cain, on everyone murder touches.

It may seem a hard task to condemn fellow creatures to long years of confinement in prison, but it is not so hard if they clearly deserve it.

He that hath deserved hanging may be glad to escape with a whipping.

Justice is a terrible but necessary thing.

They got the judges / They got the lawyers / They got the jury rolls / They got the law / They don’t come by ones. / They got the sheriffs / They got the deputies / They don’t come by twos. / They got the shotguns / They got the rope / We git the justice / In the end / And they come by tens.

Let me remember, when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, that there is likewise a pity due to the country.

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.

Those who offend us are generally punished for the offence they give; but we so frequently miss the satisfaction of knowing that we are avenged !.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

Punishment follows close on crime.

Do not be merciful, but be just, for mercy is bestowed upon the guilty criminal, while Justice is all that the innocent man requires.

Let the punishment be proportionate to the offense.

But to punish and not to restore, that is the greatest of all offences.

If the prisoner should ask the judge whether he would be content to be hanged, were he in his case, he would answer no. Then, says the prisoner, do as you would be done to.

The stories are most often about justice. In her stories, those who commit injustice, or act tyrannically, come to no good. They are punished.

No love or pity, pardon or excuse should soften the sharp pang of reparation for the guilty man.

Wickedness may prosper for awhile, but in the long run, he that sets all the knaves at work will pay them.

Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.

If a man has knocked out the teeth of a man of the same rank, his own teeth shall be knocked out.

I'm for capital punishment. You've got to execute people. How else are they going to learn?

My neighbour, or my servant, or my child, has done me an injury, and it is just that he should suffer an injury in return. Such is the doctrine which Jesus Christ summoned his whole resources of persuasion to oppose.