Death Penalty Quotes - Page 14

• In Europe, when tobacco was first introduced, it was immediately banned. In Turkey, if you got caught with tobacco, you had your nose slit. China and Russia imposed the death penalty for possession of tobacco.

  Andrew Weil

  Turkeys, Russia, Europe

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• One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity. . . . The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by< emulating his murderer. Capital punishment's fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded. . . . One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.

  William J. Brennan

  Law, Punishment, People

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• I cannot see any of these death penalty cases where there hasn't been a violation on the ground of either poverty or race. If we can ever get that straightened out, it will help. But, of course, the real answer to it is to do away with the death penalty.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Real, Race, Answers

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• I am more optimistic though, that this court will eventually conclude that the effort to eliminate arbitrariness while preserving fairness in the infliction of [death] is so plainly doomed to failure that is - and the death penalty - must be abandoned altogether. I may not live to see that day, but I have faith that eventually it will arrive.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Optimistic, Effort, May

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• Sometimes you just have the thin the herd.

  Dennis Miller

  Sometimes, Herds

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• It's strange when they near your cell. You lose all your strength, and you are like this. You lose all your strength as if a rope is dragging it out of you. Then the footsteps stop in front of another solitary confinement cell, and when you hear the sound of the key turning you feel relieved.

  Sakae Menda

  Cells, Keys, Sound

  "Film: Harsh Justice". www.journeyman.tv. March 29, 2004.

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• It's not about whether you are innocent or guilty. It's about whether or not you can prove you're innocent. If you can't prove you're innocent, then you're considered guilty. It's been flipped: Now it's guilty until proven innocent.

  Ronald Jones

  Guilty, Innocent, Prove

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• I support the death penalty and will continue to do that.

  Rick Santorum

  Support, Penalties

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• The death penalty doesn't need your assent to continue ... it needs your indifference.

  Ray Krone

  Needs, Indifference, Penalties

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• That led me to say that when push comes to shove, I'm against capital punishment.

  Scott Turow

  Punishment, Capital Punishment

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• For whence did Dante take the materials for his hell but from this our actual world? And yet he made a very proper hell of it.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  World, Hell, Made

  "The World as Will and Idea".

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• The Bible identifies 15 crimes against the family worthy of the death penalty. Abortion is treason against the family and deserves the death penalty. Adultery is treason to the family; adulterers should be put to death. Homosexuality is treason to the family, and it too, is worthy of death.

  R.J. Rushdoony

  Abortion, Religion, Atheism

  "Moyers: God and Politics", TV series (1987– ). ""On Earth as It Is in Heaven, 1988.

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• If a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion, then it is as good as treason. There is a Death Penalty in Islam for such a person.

  Zakir Naik

  Islamic, Penalties, Treason

  "Zakir Naik's incendiary words" by Tehmina Kazi, www.theguardian.com. June 22, 2010.

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• When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.

  Simone Weil

  Spiritual, Men, Class

  Simone Weil (2015). “Selected Essays, 1934-1943: Historical, Political, and Moral Writings”, p.174, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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• I think life is sacred, whether it's abortion or the death penalty.

  Tim Kaine

  Thinking, Abortion, Sacred

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• Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and justifying their belief on an erroneous interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," their most likely response, overlooks the fact that this was promulgated by Moses as a limitation- a prohibition against taking both eyes or all of an offender's teeth in retribution.

  Jimmy Carter

  Christian, Jesus, Eye

  Jimmy Carter (2005). “Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis”, p.82, Simon and Schuster

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• I'm not in favor of the death penalty. But I'm in favor of locking these people away in maximum security units where they can never get out. They can never escape. They can never be paroled. Lock the bad ones away. But you gotta rethink everybody else.

  John Grisham

  People, Locks, Favors

  "Bill Moyers talks with John Grisham". "Bill Moyers Journal" with Bill Moyers, www.pbs.org. January 25, 2008.

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• Obviously, certain sins often may escape detection. Homosexuals who practice behind closed doors are out-of-bounds for the courts, of course, unless others witness their criminal behavior. Such behavior may not be dealt with by courts in history, but will be dealt with by God, either in history (e.g., AIDS) or eternity. The law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectually drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back to the closet, to the dark realm of shameful activity.

  Gary DeMar

  Dark, Practice, Doors

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• The death penalty exacts a terrible price in dollars, lives and human decency. Rather than tamping down the flames of violence, it fuels them while draining millions of dollars from more promising efforts to restore safety to our lives.

  Robert M. Morgenthau

  Flames, Safety, Effort

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• Eliminating the death penalty...will not hinder the prosecutorial capacity to seek, or the court's ability to impose, 'life without parole' sentences for serious, heinous crimes and criminals.

  Scott Harshbarger

  Criminals, Serious, Law Enforcement

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• Jurors realize that instead of having to make that terrible decision (voting for the death penalty), they can vote to put someone in prison and ensure that defendant is no longer a harm to society. It makes it easier for them to return a verdict of life without the possibility of parole.

  Robert Falcon Scott

  Decision, Voting, Return

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• Prosecutors must reveal the dirty little secret they too often share only among themselves: The death penalty actually hinders the fight against crime.

  Robert M. Morgenthau

  Dirty, Fighting, Secret

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• The system is not perfect. Until it's perfect, let's do away with the death penalty.

  Kinky Friedman

  Perfect, Penalties, Not Perfect

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• The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life who will proclaim, celebrate, and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. I renew the appeal I made ... for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.

  Pope John Paul II

  Taken, Evil, Pro Life

  "A Pilgrim Pope: Messages for the World".

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• The national laws of the five regions of India prescribe no cangue, beatings or prison. Those who are guilty are fined in accordance with the degree of the offence committed. There is no capital punishment.

  Hyecho

  Law, Punishment, India

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