Quotes about crime
page 6

Jane Roberts photo
Steve Allen photo

“No actual tyrant known to history has ever been guilty of one-hundredth of the crimes, massacres, and other atrocities attributed to the Deity in the Bible.”

Steve Allen (1921–2000) American comedian, actor, musician and writer

More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, & Morality (1993)

“Perhaps it is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused and, in reality, it is she who must prove her good reputation, her mental soundness, and her impeccable propriety.”

Freda Adler (1934) Criminologist, educator

Source: Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal (1975), P. 215.

Michel Foucault photo
Jay Leiderman photo

“It is fashionable always to cast aspersion upon those that defend persons accused of committing crimes. The viler the accused crime, the more vigorous defense the accused needs, yet, at the same time, the more vitriol the defense attorney will face. I cannot speak for my brethren in the legal community, I can only state that what follows my own brand of patriotism; I defend those charged with crimes because it is both my duty as a lawyer and as an American. Each piece of resistance to the encroachment of overreaching governmental power is, and of itself, a victory for freedom.”

Jay Leiderman (1971) lawyer

As stated in, On the Defense of Criminals, an essay by Jay Leiderman. http://jayleiderman.com/blog/on-the-defense-of-criminals-an-essay-by-jay-leiderman/
Variant: It is fashionable always to cast aspersion upon those that defend persons accused of committing crimes. The viler the accused crime, the more vigorous defense the accused needs, yet, at the same time, the more vitriol the defense attorney will face. I cannot speak for my brethren in the legal community, I can only state that what follows my own brand of patriotism; I defend those charged with crimes because it is both my duty as a lawyer and as an American. Each piece of resistance to the encroachment of overreaching governmental power is, and of itself, a victory for freedom.

Miklós Horthy photo

“Suspecting that we would be accused of apologetics for the Khmer Rouge, Chomsky and I went to some pains to point out Khmer Rouge crimes and to stress that our purpose was to emphasize the discrepancy between available facts and media claims and to lay bare what we saw to be a propaganda campaign of selective indignation and benevolence. This effort was futile. With such a powerful propaganda bandwagon underway, from the very beginning the mass media were closed to oppositional voices on the issue, and any scepticism, even identification of outright lies, was treated with hostility and tabbed apologetics for the Khmer Rouge. Our crime was the very act of criticizing the workings of the propaganda system and its relation to US power and policy, instead of focusing attention on approved villainy, which could be assailed violently and ignorantly, without penalty. The issue was framed as a simple one: those for and against Pol Pot. […] I would estimate with some confidence that over 90 percent of the journalists who mentioned Chomsky's name in connection with Cambodia never looked at his original writings on the subject, but merely regurgitated a quickly adopted line. The critics who helped formulate the line also could hardly be bothered looking at the actual writings; the method was almost invariably the use of a few selected quotations taken out of context and embedded in a mass of sarcastic and violent denunciation.”

Edward S. Herman (1925–2017) American journalist

Herman, “Pol Pot, Faurisson, and the Process of Derogation”, in Otero, Ed. (1994), Noam Chomsky: Critical Assessments, pp. 598-615.
1990s

Stanisław Lem photo
Marvin Gaye photo

“Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand.”

Marvin Gaye (1939–1984) American singer-songwriter and musician

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).
Song lyrics, What's Going On (1971)

Philip Wollen photo
Amir Taheri photo

“So, is “Caliph Ibrahim” of the Islamic State an extremist, a militant, a terrorist or an Islamic fighter? None of the above. All those labels imply behavior that makes some sort of sense in terms of human reality and normal ideologies. Yet the Islamic State and its kindred have broken out of the entire conceivable range of political activity, even its extreme forms. A “militant” spends much of his time promoting an idea or a political program within acceptable rules of behavior. The neo-Islamists, by contrast, recognize no rules apart from those they themselves set; they have no desire to win an argument through hard canvassing. They don’t even seek to impose a point of view; they seek naked and brutal domination. A “terrorist,” meanwhile, tries to instill fear in an adversary from whom he demands specific concessions. Yet the Islamic State et al. use mass murder to such ends. They don’t want to persuade or cajole anyone to do anything in particular; they want everything. “Islamic fighter” is equally inapt. An Islamic fighter is a Muslim who fights a hostile infidel who is trying to prevent Muslims from practicing their faith. That was not the situation in Mosul. No one was preventing the city’s Muslim majority from practicing their faith, let alone forcing them to covert to another religion. Yet the Islamic State came, conquered and began to slaughter. The Islamic State kills people because it can. And in both Syria and Iraq it has killed more Muslims than members of any other religious community. How, then, can we define a phenomenon that has made even al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Khomeinist gangs appear “moderate” in comparison? The international community faced a similar question in the 18th century when pirates acted as a law onto themselves, ignoring the most basic norms of human interaction. The issue was discussed in long negotiations that led to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and the Treaty of Rastadt (1714) and developed a new judicial concept: the crime against humanity. Those who committed that crime would qualify as “enemies of mankind” — in Latin, hostis generis humanis. Individuals and groups convicted of such a crime were no longer covered by penal codes or even the laws of war. They’d set themselves outside humanity by behaving like wild beasts… Neo-Islamist groups represent a cocktail of nihilism and crimes against humanity. Like the pirates of yesteryear, they’ve attracted criminals from many different nationalities… Having embarked on genocide, the neo-Islamists do not represent an Iraqi or Syrian or Nigerian problem, but a problem for humanity as a whole. They are not enemies of any particular religion, sect or government but enemies of mankind. They deserve to be treated as such (as do the various governments and semi-governmental “charities” that help them). To deal with these enemies of mankind, we need much more than frozen bank accounts and visa restrictions.”

Amir Taheri (1942) Iranian journalist

"Beyond terrorism: ISIS and other enemies of humanity" http://nypost.com/2014/08/20/beyond-terrorism-isis-and-other-enemies-of-humanity/, New York Post (August 20, 2014).
New York Post

Thérèse of Lisieux photo
John Dos Passos photo
Chuck Palahniuk photo
Ayn Rand photo
Tawakkol Karman photo
Neal Boortz photo
Edvin Kanka Cudic photo

“Bakir Izetbegović would not visit Sarajevo's Kazani, that UDIK was not the main advocate of the commemoration of the victims of this crime.”

Edvin Kanka Cudic (1988) Human rights defender

Edvin Kanka Ćudić, interview in the Novi https://novi.ba/clanak/76314/edvin-kanka-cudic-za-novi-ba-bakir-izetbegovic-ne-bi-posjetio-kazane-da-nije-bilo-nas/. (2016)

Evelyn Waugh photo
Ai Weiwei photo
August Spies photo

“Anarchism does not mean bloodshed; it does not mean robbery, arson, etc. These monstrosities are, on the contrary, the characteristic features of capitalism. Anarchism, or Socialism, means the re-organization of society upon scientific principles and the abolition of causes which produce vice and crime.”

August Spies (1855–1887) American upholsterer, radical labor activist, and newspaper editor

Spies (1887 cited in: Lucy Eldine Parsons, August Vincent Theodore Spies (1969) Famous Speeches of the Eight Chicago Anarchists. p. 22

Mark Harmon photo
Raymond Chandler photo
Maithripala Sirisena photo

“He (Mr Rajapaksa) was publicly lamenting that he was to be taken before a war crimes court and executed on an electric chair. The people who voted me against him have prevented that”

Maithripala Sirisena (1951) Sri Lankan politician, 7th President of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday claimed that his victory in the elections saved his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa from being hauled before an international war crimes court, quoted on The Asian Age, "Maithripala Sirisena: Saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from war crimes court" http://www.asianage.com/international/maithripala-sirisena-saved-mahinda-rajapaksa-war-crimes-court-574, February 14, 2016.

Jello Biafra photo
Madame Nhu photo

“Any crime committed against the Ngo family cannot be hidden under the label of suicide. I affirm that suicide has always been considered incompatible with our religion.”

Madame Nhu (1924–2011) First lady of South Vietnam

Addressing the claim that President Ngo Dinh Diem and her husband Ngo Dinh Nhu committed suicide http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/vietnam-78-106-madame-nhu-press-conference (3 November 1963)

Ted Nugent photo

“In Ted's world, we want the death penalty to be imposed at the scene of the crime.”

Ted Nugent (1948) American rock musician

1994 interview in Westword http://www.westword.com/1994-07-27/music/ted-s-world/full/

John Dryden photo
Noam Chomsky photo

“The invasion of Iraq was simply a war crime. Straight-out war crime.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Quotes 2000s, 2004, Interview by Bill Maher, 2004

Jesse Helms photo

“Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are facts of life which must be faced.”

Jesse Helms (1921–2008) American politician

New York Times interview (1981)
1980s

Todd Akin photo

“This bill is called the Hate Crimes bill. The first major reason to vote no is because this bill increases hatred in America. I will say it again. This bill increases hatred in America. […] It creates animosity by elevating one group over another group, and thus creates hatred. This is counter to everything American law has ever stood for, and it will increase hatred in America, and for that reason alone, it should be voted no.”

Todd Akin (1947) American politician

House of Representatives session http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession3715, , quoted in * 2012-09-27
Todd Akin: The Highlights Reel
Kate
Sheppard
Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/09/todd-akin-american-bridge-oppo
regarding the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Ralph Ellison photo

“…there's always an element of crime in freedom.”

Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 7.

Lima Barreto photo
Dave Eggers photo
David Irving photo

“I'm not going to say it was 'only' a hundred thousand Jews that were killed in Auschwitzs because even if one Jew is murdered that's a crime.”

David Irving (1938) British writer and Holocaust denier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGP_evkvOk

Charles Evans Hughes photo

“Equally unavailing is the insistence that the statute is designed to prevent the circulation of scandal which tends [p722] to disturb the public peace and to provoke assaults and the commission of crime. Charges of reprehensible conduct, and in particular of official malfeasance, unquestionably create a public scandal, but the theory of the constitutional guaranty is that even a more serious public evil would be caused by authority to prevent publication. To prohibit the intent to excite those unfavorable sentiments against those who administer the Government is equivalent to a prohibition of the actual excitement of them, and to prohibit the actual excitement of them is equivalent to a prohibition of discussions having that tendency and effect, which, again, is equivalent to a protection of those who administer the Government, if they should at any time deserve the contempt or hatred of the people, against being exposed to it by free animadversions on their characters and conduct. There is nothing new in the fact that charges of reprehensible conduct may create resentment and the disposition to resort to violent means of redress, but this well understood tendency did not alter the determination to protect the press against censorship and restraint upon publication. […] The danger of violent reactions becomes greater with effective organization of defiant groups resenting exposure, and if this consideration warranted legislative interference with the initial freedom of publication, the constitutional protection would be reduced to a mere form of words.”

Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) American judge

Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931).
Judicial opinions

Pramod Muthalik photo

“This is an organised crime. There is money coming from the Gulf and other countries to enable a gang of Muslim men trap Hindu women, marry them and then use them for crime including terror.”

Pramod Muthalik (1963) Indian politician

On Love Jihad, as quoted in " Muthalik finds cases of ‘love jihad’ in state, cites RTI info http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/muthalik-finds-cases-of-love-jihad-in-state-cites-rti-info/", The Indian Express (20 September 2014)

Joseph Chamberlain photo
Jean Paul Sartre photo
Russ Feingold photo

“This conduct is right in the strike zone of the concept of high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Russ Feingold (1953) Wisconsin politician; three-term U.S. Senator

On the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance under President George W. Bush, in [O'Keefe, Ed, Feingold Calls for Bush's Censure, https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Politics/story?id=1715495&page=1, 20 August 2018, ABC News, March 12, 2006]
2006

Howard Dean photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Weep for life, with its toil and care,
Its crime to shun, and its sorrow to bear;
Let tears and the sign of tears be shed
Over the living, not over the dead!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

(21st August 1830) The Legacy of the Roses
The London Literary Gazette, 1830

Chris Hedges photo

“The so-called Al-Qaeda is, in my opinion, an illusion. It is a bunch of organizations which used to be supervised by the CIA, and used to commit crimes in some Arab and Islamic countries.”

Riyad Naasan Agha (1947) former minister of culture of Syria

CIA and Mossad behind London Bombings and All Other Bombings in Europe http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1405 March 2007.

Geoffrey West photo
William Wordsworth photo
Al Sharpton photo

“Crime is going down everywhere but in the New York City Police Department.”

Al Sharpton (1954) American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host

Protest against the police brutalization of Abner Louima (29 August 1997)[citation needed]

William S. Burroughs photo
Heather Brooke photo
Camille Paglia photo
Albert Camus photo
Alexander Alekhine photo

“The fact that a player is very short of time is, to my mind, as little to be considered as an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the moment he committed the crime.”

Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946) Russian / French chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician

On the Zeitnot problem.
Source: Chess Life, Vol. 16-18, 1961. p. 113.

James Comey photo
Tertullian photo

“The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry.”

Tertullian (155–220) Christian theologian

Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Apologetic/On_Idolatry/Wide_Scope_of_the_Word_Idolatry, Chapter 1

Kin Hubbard photo
Margaret Cho photo
Rousas John Rushdoony photo

“Let us examine therefore, in summary fashion, the laws whereby a woman in Israel might obtain a divorce by death and re-marry. The laws calling for the death penalty against the man. To list these without taking time to give all the references, the Biblical references, which can be given although we dealt with many of them:
1. Adultery, 2. Rape, 3. Incest, 4. Homosexuality or sodomy, 5. Bestiality, 6. Premeditated Murder, 7. Smiting Father or Mother, 8. Death of a woman from miscarriage due to assault and battery, 9. Sacrificing children to Molech, 10. Cursing Father or Mother, 11. Kidnapping, 12. Being a wizard, 13. Being a false prophet or dreamer, 14. Apostacy, 15. Sacrificing to other Gods, 16. Refusing to follow the decision of judges, 17. Blasphemy, 18. Transgressing the Covenant.
In other words, for all these offenses, a woman gained a divorce by death. On the other hand, a divorce by death was obtainable by men because of the following death penalties cited for women: 1. Unchastity before marriage, 2. Adultery after marriage, 3. Prostituion by a priests daughter, 4. Bestiality, 5. Being a witch or a sorceress, 6. Transgressing the covenant, and 7. Incest.
Now it is obvious that that the list for men is more than twice as long. And it is obvious that some of the death penalties for men would also apply to women, as for example murder. But many of the crimes that are cited for men such as rape and kidnapping, while it is conceivable that the woman would be guilty of those it is not very likely. Those are primarily masculine offenses.”

Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) American theologian

Audio lectures, The Law of Divorce (n.d.)

Koenraad Elst photo
Alfred de Zayas photo

“Grave crimes of this nature, and the impunity that has accompanied them, entail violations of numerous international treaty provisions and constitute an assault on the rule of law, an affront to the international community and a threat to the international order.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

UN experts urge Iraq to establish the whereabouts of the seven missing residents of Camp Ashraf http://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/un-experts-urge-iraq-to-establish-the-whereabouts-of-the-seven-missing-residents-of-camp-ashraf/.
2013

Nicole Lapin photo

“I didn't know whether to run from my seat…I was in the line of fire. My desk is now a crime scene.”

Nicole Lapin (1984) American journalist

Interview with Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962430.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 (April 2007)

Ilana Mercer photo

“By all means, argue against laws that prohibit victimless 'crimes' on the ground that these disproportionally ensnare blacks. But do not err in accusing all cops of targeting blacks, when the former are entrusted with enforcing the law, and the latter violate the law in disproportion to their numbers in the general population.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“Ferguson: Angst vor einer militarisierten Polizei” http://jungefreiheit.de/kolumne/2014/ferguson-angst-vor-einer-militarisierten-polizei Junge Freiheit (in German), September 4, 2014.
2010s, 2014

Jeffrey Tucker photo

“Everyone who lives in border areas of the country knows that illegal immigration is a major source of crime and assorted social mayhem.”

Jeffrey Tucker (1963) American writer

Source: "Jack Kemp, American Socialist" by Jeffrey Tucker, The Rothbard-Rockwell Report, September 1996, UNZ.org, 2016-05-22 http://www.unz.org/Pub/RothbardRockwellReport-1996sep-00001,

“How are all the details relevant to the case and the actual crime? When it is a case of an upper class woman, there is a titillating curiosity and over interest in her life. Her life becomes a free for all.”

Flavia Agnes (1947) Indian activist and lawyer

On the media attention on Indrani Mukerjea, as quoted in " The Maria Connection http://www.outlookindia.com/article/the-maria-connection/295258" Outlook India (6 September 2015)

Shah Jahan photo
Jayalalithaa photo
Emma Goldman photo
Robert Charles Winthrop photo
John Ogilby photo
Susan Sontag photo
Abd al-Karim Qasim photo
Adam Schiff photo

“If the Trump campaign, or anybody associated with it, aided or abetted the Russians, it would not only be a serious crime, it would also represent one of the most shocking betrayals of our democracy in history.”

Adam Schiff (1960) American politician

Open Letter to the Committee Hearing Re: FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers

Herbert Marcuse photo
Albert Speer photo
Chris Hedges photo

“To be judged by the state as an innocent, is to be guilty. It is to sanction, through passivity and obedience, the array of crimes carried out by the state.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

“Happy as a Hangman,” truthdig.com http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/happy_as_a_hangman_20101206/, December 6, 2010

Pat Spillane photo

“There are people who go to the Hague for war crimes – I tell you this, some of the coaches nowadays should be up for crimes against Gaelic football.”

Pat Spillane (1955) Gaelic football player

Spillane on Jim McGuinness. His team won the 2012 All-Ireland. The Irish Times https://archive.is/20121208223707/www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0827/1224323032489.html

Charles M. Blow photo

“You're damn right when you say I've shown people how to make a firebomb, I've done my time for my crimes, and I should be able to talk about them.”

Rod Coronado (1966) Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist

Feds arrest environment radical over S.D. speech http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060223-9999-1m23rod.html

“Cassidy had been drawn to the crime beat because of its guaranteed drama. It offered murders, kidnappings, armed robbery, and the occasional hostage situation. But predictable it wasn’t.”

Lis Wiehl (1961) American legal scholar

Source: Heart of Ice A Triple Threat Novel with April Henry (Thomas Nelson), p. 193

Stan Lee photo
Robert Silverberg photo
Robert N. Proctor photo
Michel Foucault photo
Yanis Varoufakis photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“No group in America has been more harmed by Hillary Clinton's policies than African-Americans. If Hillary Clinton's goal was to inflict pain on the African-American community, she could not have done a better job. It's a disgrace. Tonight, I'm asking for the vote of every single African-American citizen in this country who wants to see a better future. The inner cities of our country have been run by the Democratic party for more than fifty years. Their policies have reduced only poverty, joblessness, failing schools and broken homes. It's time to hold Democratic politicians accountable for what they have done to these communities. At what point do we say, "enough?" It's time to hold failed leaders accountable for their results not just their empty words over and over again. Look at what the Democratic party has done to the city as an example and there are many others of Detroit: forty percent of Detroit's residents live in poverty. Half of all Detroit residents do not work and cannot work and can't get a job. Detroit tops the list of most dangerous cities in terms of violent crime. This is the legacy of the Democratic politicians who have run this city. This is the result of the policy agenda embraced by Hillary Clinton: thirty-three thousand emails gone. The only way to change results is to change leadership. We can never fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created our problems in the first place. A new future requires brand new leadership. Look how much African-American communities suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump. What do you have to lose? I say it again, what do you have to lose. Look, what do you have to lose? You're living your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed? What the hell do you have to lose? And at the end of four years, I guarantee you, that I will get over ninety-five percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Speech to the African-American community in Dimondale, Michigan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5B5m1S5VTA (August 19, 2016)
2010s, 2016, August

Donald J. Trump photo

“America must do more — much more — to protect its citizens, especially people who are potential victims of crimes based on their backgrounds or sexual orientation, as you just saw in Orlando.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2016, June, Speech about the Orlando Shooting (June 13, 2016)

Laurell K. Hamilton photo
Markandey Katju photo
Philip Roth photo
Harry Schwarz photo
Whittaker Chambers photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
Joe Zawinul photo

“In the beginning let's say Weather Report was a joint thing. Then, after the second album there's no question about it, it became more and more my group. Wayne wanted it like that, but we were always 'partners in crime.”

Joe Zawinul (1932–2007) austrian composer and pianist

No Wayne, no Weather Report.
As quoted in Nicholson, Stuart. "Jazz-Rock: A History". Schirmer Books. 1998.