“Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retributions.” PeopleIfsMenMayMeanEndsWholeGovernmentLawOrderLibertyTeachTeacherCrimeExampleTerribleIllConvictionCriminalsEvery ManCommitSecureAdministrationJustifyAnarchyContemptInvitesContagiousRetributionLiberty And JusticeCriminal LawEnds Justify The MeansConflicting Opinions Author:Louis D. Brandeis
“But it is recognized that punishment for the abuse of the liberty accorded to the press is essential to the protection of the public, and that the common law rules that subject the libeler to responsibility for the public offense, as well as for the private injury, are not abolished by the protection extended in our constitutions. The law of criminal libel rests upon that secure foundation. There is also the conceded authority of courts to punish for contempt when publications directly tend to prevent the proper discharge of judicial functions.” WellsLawCommonResponsibilityLibertySubjectsEssentialsAuthorityAbuseFunctionConstitutionFoundationCourtPressesProtectionCriminalsPunishmentSecureInjuryContemptOffensePublicationJudicialDischargeLibelConcededCommon Law Author:Charles Evans Hughes
“The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.” DoeEndsUseFeelingsLawUsedTurnsLibertyPoliceMethodCriminalsIllegalRootedConfessionInherentInvoluntaryConvictsAbhorrence Author:Earl Warren
“That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man bath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of twelve men of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.” MenGivingLawFoundCausesLibertyLandDemandJudgmentEvidenceCriminalsFavorsTrialsGuiltyWitnessTwelvePeersConsentCompelledDeprivedBathsJuryAccusationProsecutionAccusers Author:George Mason
“There are people who are always going to try to engage in activity that is illegal and they're going to try to subvert surveillance. But everybody should not give up their liberties and rights to privacy because some people are going to [do that]. We shouldn't stop or limit our basic liberties because some people are going to engage in criminal activities.” PeopleGivingShouldTryingLibertyRightsActivityLimitsGiving UpCriminalsPrivacyIllegalNot Giving UpSurveillance Author:Laura Poitras
“Experience shows that the frequent use of severe punishment has never rendered a people better. The death of a criminal is a less effective means of restraining crimes than the permanent example of a man deprived of his liberty during the whole of his life to make amends for the injury he has done to the public.” PeopleMenMeanDoneWholeUseShowsLibertyCrimeExampleCriminalsPunishmentPermanentInjurySevereDeprivedDeath PenaltyAmendsRestraining Author:Catherine the Great
“Government should enforce rule of law. It should enforce contracts, it should protect people bodily from being attacked by criminals. And when the government does those things, it is facilitating liberty. When it goes beyond those things, it becomes destructive to both human happiness and human liberty.” PeopleShouldHumansDoeGovernmentLawLibertyProtectCriminalsDestructiveContractsRule Of LawHuman Happiness Author:Grover Norquist
“The government has created a nation of paper criminals. People can be put in jail and lose civil rights and liberties through bureaucratic procedures.The only thing that is keeping you out of jail is government goodwill.” PeopleGovernmentNationsLosesLibertyRightsPaperCriminalsCivil RightsJailProceduresGoodwill Author:Ayn Rand
“Silence is consent. And silence where life and liberty is at stake, where by a timely protest we could stay the destoyer's hand, and do not do so, is as criminal as giving actual aid to the oppressor, for it answers his purpose.” GivingHandsPurposeAnswersSilenceLibertyAidsCriminalsProtestStakesConsentSilence IsOppressorsTimely Author:Ernestine Rose
“I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” PeopleThinkingNeedsFirstsTwoEnoughShowsBigsGovernmentCoursesGrowsLibertyEnemyLaborConstitutionCriminalsVersionsChainsTiesMachineryLiving OnDecreaseParasitesIndustrious Author:Thomas Jefferson
“The minute you use the drugs, and you do something that interferes with the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of the guy next door, you're a criminal, and you ought to be punished for that especially if you're in a position where your actions could affect large numbers of people. Being a doctor, a legislator, a judge, an airline pilot, where somebody's life depends on you.” PeopleIfsUseActionGuyNextNumbersLibertyDoorsMinutesPositionJudgingDependsOughtDrugDoctorsCriminalsPursuitPilotsInterferePursuit Of HappinessAirlineLarge NumbersLegislatorsLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of HappinessAirline Pilots Author:Frank Zappa
“Sometimes that irrational commitment to principle is what society needs to survive. Whenever you talk about radicalism, whenever you talk about activism, whenever you talk about progressive activity, that sort of moves the measure of liberty in human society forward, makes us all enjoy a better standard of liberty, it typically starts out criminal. It typically starts out a little bit shaky, and rather radical. And that's irrational to put yourself up to do that.” NeedsHumansLittlesSometimesMovingBitsEnjoyLibertyPrinciplesActivityLittle BitStandardsCommitmentActivismCriminalsRadicalProgressiveIrrationalHuman SocietyRadicalism Author:Edward Snowden