Bob Filner Quotes

The purpose of our justice system is to reflect the values of our society and to punish those who violate our standards.

The law is bigger than money - but only if the law works hard enough.

There is no justice if wrongdoers go unpunished and victims do not feel avenged.

We need society, and particularly the victims of crime, to believe justice is being done.

Without justice, the most heinous crimes go unpunished; victims are unable to obtain redress, and peace remains an elusive goal, since impunity generates more hatred, leading to acts of revenge and more suffering.

Too much mercy... often resulted in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first and mercy second.

Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.

My goal for reform is not necessarily to pass laws but to make sure the laws are being followed.

I can establish the expectation of retributive justice. Have we done that? No.

The simplest way of understanding justice is giving people what they deserve. This idea goes back to Aristotle. The real difficulty begins with figuring out who deserves what and why.

Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do.

As a lawyer, as a private citizen, you see a lot of injustice. You see a lot of people who should have been punished and are not, and people who were punished wrongfully are not vindicated. Fiction is sort of a way to set the record straight, and let people at least believe that justice can be achieved and the right outcomes can occur.

Man is unique in creation because he has a sense of justice and truth. We spend billions of dollars each year to set up court systems to see that justice is done, and we build prisons for those who transgress the laws we enact.

I believe in justice, and I believe in people being held responsible for their actions.

Let them bring me prisoners, and I’ll find them law.

The man who was excellent, I rewarded him well; who was evil, I punished him well.

The severest justice may not always be the best policy.

There is no such thing as justice—in or out of court.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

All judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty should escape

We’re not here to secure convictions; we are here to secure justice.

The Criminal Code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity that without an easy access to exceptions it in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear it a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.

The net of law is spread so wide, No sinner from its sweep may hide. Its meshes are so fine and strong They take in every child of wrong. O wondrous web of mystery ! Big fish alone escape from thee !

If a law doesn’t produce a just result, then what good is it? …. If you don’t have a just result, then the law doesn’t matter.

Justice must be seen to be done.