#punishments

It is a considerable point in all good legislation to determine exactly the credibility of witnesses and the proofs of a crime. Every reasonable man, everyone, that is, whose ideas have a certain interconnection and whose feelings accord with those of other men, may be a witness. The true measure of his credibility is nothing other than his interest in telling or not telling the truth; for this reason it is frivolous to insist that women are too weak [to be good witnesses], childish to insist that civil death in a condemned man has the same effects as a real death, and meaningless to insist on the infamy of the infamous, when they have no interest in lying. ↗

— Cesare Beccaria

#crimes-and-punishments #justice #law #witnesses #death

Admitting weakness seems to be such a severe psychic threat for Bush that when he makes a mistake it's safer just to reinforce it. The strategy creates a perverse system of rewards and punishments. ↗

— Tina Brown

#bush #creates #just #makes #mistake

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. ↗

— William Ernest Henley

#captain #charged #fate #gate #how

A state that suppresses all freedom of speech, and which by imposing the most terrible punishments, treats each and every attempt at criticism, however morally justified, and every suggestion for improvement as plotting to high treason, is a state that breaks an unwritten law. ↗

— Kurt Huber

#breaks #criticism #each #every #freedom

We are born knowing nothing and with much striving we learn but a little; yet all the while we are bound by laws that hearken to no plea of ignorance, and measure out their rewards and punishments with calm indifference. ↗

— Paul Elmer More

#bound #calm #hearken #ignorance #indifference

...Both Elizabeth [Smart] and Ruby [Jessop] were fourteen when they were kidnapped, raped and "kept captive by polygamous fanatics." The main difference in the girls' respective ordeals...is that "Elizabeth was brainwashed for nine months," while Ruby had been brainwashed by polygamist fanatics "since birth." Despite the similarity of their plights, Elizabeth's abusers were jailed and charged with sexual assault, aggravated burglary, and aggravated kidnapping, while Ruby... "was returned to her abusers, no real investigation was done, no charges brought against anyone" involved. ↗

— Jon Krakauer

#mormonism #polygamy #religion #religion-and-children #women-s-rights

You will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishments. And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you are potentially wrecking your own life too. ↗

— David Cameron

#crimes #enough #face #feel #force

Remorse is a terrible thing to bear, Pam, one of the worst of all punishments in this life. To wish undone something you have done, to wish you could look back on kindness to someone you love, instead of on unkindness - that is a very terrible thing. ↗

— Enid Blyton

#looking-back #punishments #remorse #undo-past-mistakes #undone

Two of the cruelest, most primitive punishments our town deals out to those who fall from favor are the empty mailbox and the silent telephone. ↗

— Hedda Hopper

#deals #empty #fall #favor #most

Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education. ↗

— Zhuang Zi

#form #lowest #lowest form #punishments #rewards