Cesare Beccaria

"A secret trial is not a trial at all; it is merely an execution dressed in judicial robes."

"The right to remain silent is not the right of the guilty; it is the right of the innocent against false accusation."

"Laws that cannot be understood by the people are laws that cannot be obeyed by the people."

"The legislator who creates harsher penalties without reducing the causes of crime is a man chasing shadows."

"Civilization begins when men agree to be judged by law rather than by the sword."

"The witness who testifies in secret is suspect; the witness who testifies in public is credible."

"A government that executes its own citizens without fair trial is at war with itself."

"The purpose of the criminal justice system should be reform and prevention, not retribution and revenge."

"Those who have power should be most bound by law, for they have the greatest capacity to abuse it."

"The law that cannot be questioned is tyranny; the law that must be questioned is the foundation of liberty."

"A just society measures its progress not by the number of its prisons, but by the reduction of its crimes."

"Enlightenment in law comes not from severity, but from clarity, certainty, and proportionality."

"The purpose of punishment is not to torment a sensible being, but to inflict an evil upon him in order that he may avoid a greater evil."

"It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them."

"When the laws are obscure, the people must necessarily be ignorant and servile."

"Certainty of punishment, even if mild, makes a stronger impression than fear of a severe one that is uncertain."

"The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation."

"Liberty is when one can say what one thinks."

"A tyrant is one who fears the freedom of his people."

"In a state of nature, all men are equal; equality is preserved through laws and justice."

"The more promptly punishment follows the crime, the greater effect it will have on the public mind."

"Secret accusations and secret judgments are the foundations of tyranny."

"Truth fears no investigation."

"A nation is truly free when citizens obey laws they have prescribed for themselves."

"Excessive severity in punishment hardens men rather than reforms them."

"The science of legislation is the knowledge of the greatest happiness of the greatest number."

"Without punishment, there can be no law; without law, there can be no society."

"The happiness of all men is the true measure of good government."

"Familiarity with crime leads to a contempt for punishment."

"Laws should be interpreted according to their spirit and intent, not merely their words."