I am grateful that I live in a nation where most believe that one's punishment should fit their wrongdoing and that ours is a nation that judges an individual by both what he has done and how he has changed.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Punishment is justice for the unjust.
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Punishment can do a lot for criminals, and send a message to the rest of society.
I am deeply impressed with the gravity and wisdom with which most federal judges approach the responsibility of sentencing. It is a difficult, soul-searching task at best.
I thank the Lord for the great principle of repentance and forgiveness.
People do make mistakes and I think they should be punished. But they should be forgiven and given the opportunity for a second chance. We are human beings.
If people want to take their lives and are helped to do so, the punishment is tragic for all concerned.
To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is cruelty.
We are all serving a life sentence, and good behavior is our only hope for a pardon.
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.