Quotessence
Home / Topics / Death Penalty Quotes

Death Penalty Quotes

Browse 414 quotes about Death Penalty.

Related topics

PeopleIfsPunishmentCapital PunishmentThinkingAgainst Death PenaltyStatesBelieveHumansCrimeJusticeMurderShouldInnocentExecutionCriminalsCountryLawWayKillingPersonsGovernmentMenYearsDoeHas BeensPrisonKnowsAbortionDoneFactsLaw EnforcementCasesDeterrentNeedsSupportUnitedUnited StatesWantWould BeHuman LifeMoralMurdererWorldAmericaDeserveGivingReasonRevengeCertainChristianCostDeath RowEvilFavorsFirstsGuiltyI BelieveJustice SystemLife DeathPoorVictimViolenceCourtDiesEndsErrorsEyeHuman BeingsIndividualIssuesLife IsLooksMayMeanPracticeProblemSentencesShowsStillsTerribleTodayTryingUseViewsWar

Death Penalty Quotes

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

IfsSidesJusticeSituationInjusticeChosenIndifferenceProtestBullyingMiceBullyTheologianDeath PenaltyDisobedienceOppressorsBulliedCivil DisobediencePeace And JusticeNeutralityPeace JusticeClergymenEquality And JusticeBeing BulliedNonviolent ResistanceAppreciate What You HaveJustice And MercyJustice And InjusticeBullying InspirationalInjustice And OppressionCyber BullyingInjustice In The WorldPonder This
Author:Desmond Tutu
Create image

“If you are deemed insane, then all actions that would oherwise prove you are not do, in actuality, fall into the framework of an insane person’s actions. Your sound protests constitute denial. Your valid fears are deemed paranoia. Your survival instincts are labeled defense mechanisms. It’s a no-win situation. It’s a death penalty really.”

IfsPersonsActionFallWinningSoundSituationProveSurvivalInstinctDefenseInsaneDenialProtestMechanismPenaltiesFrameworkDeath PenaltyParanoiaSurvival InstinctActualityDefense MechanismsInsane Person
Author:Dennis Lehane
Create image

“For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.”

MenTryingHas BeensStatesLawForceCenturyCrimeClaimsConstantInstinctChecksPenaltiesPersistDeath PenaltyEquilibriumRefinement
Book:Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays
Create image

“How dangerous it is rashly to adopt the Mosaical institutions [Old Testament teachings of eye for an eye]. Laws might have been proper for a tribe of ardent barbarians wandering through the sands of Arabia which are wholly unfit for an enlightened people of civilized and gentle manners.”

PeopleHas BeensMightEyeLawTeachingDangerousInstitutionsWanderMannersGentleSandEnlightenedCivilizedTribesTestamentMight Have BeenDeath PenaltyOld TestamentArabiaBarbariansArdentEye For An Eye
Author:Gerald Heaney
Create image

“Imposition of the death penalty is arbitrary and capricious. Decision of who will live and who will die for his crime turns less on the nature of the offense and the incorrigibility of the offender and more on inappropriate and indefensible considerations: the political and personal inclinations of prosecutors; the defendant's wealth, race and intellect; the race and economic status of the victim; the quality of the defendant's counsel; and the resources allocated to defense lawyers.”

PoliticalDiesTurnsWealthDecisionRaceQualityEconomicCrimeResourcesVictimIntellectDefenseLawyerConsiderationPenaltiesOffenseInclinationArbitraryDeath PenaltyInappropriateOffendersProsecutorImpositionCapriciousEconomic Status
Author:Gerald Heaney
Create image

“I am afraid that it would be a mockery of justice if the death penalty is not imposed. And therefore I pleaded that there are maximum aggravating circumstances, which supersede the mitigating circumstances. And there is not a single mitigating circumstance which speaks in favor of the accused, and therefore all the accused deserve (the) death penalty.”

IfsWould BeSpeakJusticeCircumstancesDeserveFavorsPenaltiesAccusedMaximumDeath PenaltyMockeryAggravating
Author:Ujjwal Nikam
Create image

“Can the state, which represents the whole of society and has the duty of protecting society, fulfill that duty by lowering itself to the level of the murderer, and treating him as he treated others? The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.”

HumansStatesWholeLife IsProcessHuman BeingsLevelsDutyAbsolutesTreatedMurdererDeath PenaltyIrreversibleAgainst Death Penalty
Author:Kofi Annan
Create image

“I have reached the conviction that the abolition of the death penalty is desirable. Reasons: 1) Irreparability in the event of an error of justice, 2) Detrimental moral influence of the execution procedure on those who, whether directly or indirectly, have to do with the procedure.”

ReasonJusticeMoralInfluenceEventsErrorsConvictionExecutionPenaltiesDesirableDeath PenaltyProceduresAbolitionCapital PunishmentDetrimental
Book:Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives
Create image

“As one whose husband and mother-in-law have died the victims of murder and assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by a legalized murder.”

HumansLawMotherEvilJusticeMoralityHusbandMurderDiedVictimDeedsHuman LifePenaltiesOffenseDeath PenaltyIn-lawsAssassinationRedeemedMother In LawRetaliationStand Firm
Author:Coretta Scott King
Create image

“It would be one thing if we could say the system works [in Illinois], and that individuals followed procedures and were found innocent, but in fact in all the cases it was really a fluke ... We find persistent wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement. It's really sheer luck that those convicted of these [capital] crimes were exonerated in the end.”

IfsEndsFactsWould BeLawFoundIndividualCasesOne ThingCrimeLuckInnocentSheerLaw EnforcementEnforcementPersistentDeath PenaltyProceduresWrongdoingIllinoisFlukes
Author:Jan Schakowsky
Create image

“Judicial execution can never cancel or remove the atrocity it seeks to punish; it can only add a second atrocity to the original one ... So long as one sees killing as wrong there is no need to waste time with the deterrent argument, since it would be nonsense to try to prevent a theoretical evil in the future by perpetrating an actual one in the present.”

NeedsTryingLongWould BeEvilWasteArgumentOriginalsAddKillingNonsenseRemoveWasting TimeExecutionTheoreticalDeath PenaltyJudicialAtrocitiesDeterrent
Author:Auberon Waugh
Create image

“Do I need to argue to Your Honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty? That hatred only causes hatred; that if there is any way to soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil and hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love, and understanding?”

IfsWayNeedsHumansHeartHardEnoughEvilCausesUnderstandingHonorHatredAnd LoveCharityArguingCrueltyHuman HeartDeath PenaltyYour HonorCharity And Love
Book:Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom
Create image