If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
Robert KennedyRead
I believe indeterminate sentencing can be extremely useful, but I also believe that any such system should always take into consideration the special knowledge as to the facts in a case which only the trial judge possesses.
Interpretation
Indeterminate sentencing requires judicial discretion to consider the specifics of each case.
In this quote, Robert Kennedy underscores the importance of indeterminate sentencing in the judicial system, suggesting that it can provide flexibility and fairness in punishment. He emphasizes that trial judges hold unique insights into the details of each case, which should be paramount in guiding sentencing decisions, ensuring that justice is served in a nuanced manner.
In practice
In a discussion about judicial reforms, this quote highlights the importance of the trial judge's role.
If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.
Within the United States, we have put great emphasis upon political freedoms. Because it has been our experience that these freedoms can lead to others.
It is one thing to open job opportunities. It is another to train people to fill them, or to persuade American enterprise to seek Negro as well as white applicants.
Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.
The Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America - except whether we are proud to be Americans.
Justice turns the scale, bringing to some learning through suffering.
Supporters of capital punishment bear a special responsibility to ensure the fairness of this irreversible punishment.
Justice delayed is democracy denied.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. The struggle for justice must never be adjourned. The forces of injustice do not take vacations.
I am asking that every American everywhere, in every state, in every zip code have the same opportunities and the same right to live.
The love of justice and the love of country plead equally the cause of these people, and it is a moral reproach to us that they should have pleaded it so long in vain.
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