Capital Punishment Quotes

• We don't know if capital punishment is a deterrent, but we know that men we execute will not murder again.

  Mario Puzo

  Men, Murder, Knows

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• I don't think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don't think that's right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people's lives.

  George W. Bush

  Revenge, Thinking, People

  George W. Bush at the third Presidential Debate, abcnews.go.com. October 17, 2000.

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• Executing a murderer is the only way to adequately express our horror at the taking of an innocent life. Nothing else suffices. To equate the lives of killers with those of victims is the worst kind of moral equivalency. If capital punishment is state murder, then imprisonment is state kidnapping and restitution is state theft.

  Don Feder

  Punishment, Killers, Way

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• To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.

  Desmond Tutu

  Revenge, Punishment, Justice

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• Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, Stars, Hate

  "Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?". Book by Martin Luther King, 1967.

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• I think capital punishment works great. Every killer you kill never kills again.

  Bill Maher

  Thinking, Punishment, Justice

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• Capital punishment? It makes no sense as a policy: It's not a deterrent, and economically it's a disaster. It's very clear that there are innocent people on death row. And if I put an innocent person to death, that's murder.

  Tony Goldwyn

  Punishment, Innocent Person, People

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• Most people approve of capital punishment, but most people wouldn't do the hangman's job.

  George Orwell

  Jobs, Punishment, People

  George Orwell (2016). “The Road to Wigan Pier”, p.97, Jester House Publishing

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• Capital punishment is our society's recognition of the sanctity of human life.

  Orrin Hatch

  Death, Punishment, Political

  "The Cassell Dictionary of Regrettable Quotations". Book by David Milsted, 1999.

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• I personally have always voted for the death penalty because I believe that people who go out prepared to take the lives of other people forfeit their own right to live. I believe that that death penalty should be used only very rarely, but I believe that no-one should go out certain that no matter how cruel, how vicious, how hideous their murder, they themselves will not suffer the death penalty.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Believe, Punishment, People

  "It just occurred to me that this is the day I was not meant to see". TV Interview with Gill Nevill on Brighton Bomb for Channel 4 "A plus 4", www.margaretthatcher.org. October 15, 1984.

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• I should not regret a fair and full trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment.

  James Madison

  Regret, Punishment, Trials

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.342

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• Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders.

  Albert Camus

  Punishment, Death Penalty, Murder

  "Reflections on the Guillotine". Book by Albert Camus, 1957.

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• If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well.

  Helen Prejean

  Believe, Government, Punishment

  Helen Prejean (2011). “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States”, p.130, Vintage

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• Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer. But imprisonment turns the state into a gay dungeon-master.

  Jesse Jackson

  Gay, Punishment, Dungeons

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• 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.

  Albert Einstein

  Errors, Justice, Events

  Albert Einstein (2013). “Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives”, p.83, Princeton University Press

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• Capital punishment is against the best judgment of modern criminology and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Expression, Punishment, Death Penalty

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• Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Death, Peace, Ubuntu

  George Bernard Shaw (2015). “George Bernard Shaw: Collected Articles, Lectures, Essays and Letters: Thoughts and Studies from the Renowned Dramaturge and Author of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Pygmalion, Arms and The Man, Saint Joan, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion”, p.308, e-artnow

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• I think more people would be alive today if there were a death penalty.

  Nancy Reagan

  Death, Thinking, People

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• Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Death, Wise, Giving

  J.R.R. Tolkien (2012). “The Lord of the Rings: One Volume”, p.53, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If I were asked to chose between execution and life in prison I would, of course, chose the latter. It's better to live somehow than not at all.

  Anton Chekhov

  Execution, Prison, Latter

  "The Bet". Short story by Anton Chekhov, 1889.

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• It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.

  Maimonides

  Guilty Person, Innocent, Thousand

  "Sefer Hamitzvot". Book by Maimonides,

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• Capital punishment would be more effective as a preventive measure if it were administered prior to the crime.

  Woody Allen

  Funny, Humor, Punishment

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• People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Punishment, People, Trials

  "10 Ways to Blow a Death Penalty Case" by Marc Bookman, www.motherjones.com. April 22, 2014.

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• Isn't all mankind ultimately executed for a crime it never committed?

  Woody Allen

  Crime, Mankind, Committed

  "Love and Death". www.imdb.com. 1975.

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• Anyone who believes in capital punishment should be shot

  Banksy

  Believe, Punishment, Should

  Banksy (2005). “Banksy: wall and piece”, Random House UK

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