Caryl Chessman quotes

I think my greatest usefulness lies in what I've had the opportunity to demonstrate -that the most "hopeless" criminal in existence can be salvaged; that he's worth salvaging, on both humanitarian and hard-headed social grounds. Retributive justice and the execution chamber aren't the answer. In seeking a solution to the crime problem, I believe that vision can and should be substituted for vengeance. I'm convinced that there is much that is narrow and negative and wrong in society's attitude toward and treatment of the man who is said to be at "war" with it, and who often is at war with himself. (Caryl Chessman)
Further, a document names and identifies the actual Red Light Bandits (plural), because in fact there are two. View quote
Caryl Chessman
A cat, I am told, has nine lives. If that is true, I know how a cat feels. View quote
Caryl Chessman
I am not generally regarded as a pleasant or socially minded fellow. View quote
Caryl Chessman
My soul is not for sale. View quote
Caryl Chessman
It is my hope and my belief that you will be able to report that I died with dignity, without animal fear and without bravado. I owe that much to myself. View quote
Caryl Chessman
If the executioner goes, my package will never be made public. If he doesn't go, it will be made public exactly fifty years from the day the bill for a moratorium on capital punishment is defeated. View quote
Caryl Chessman
How, possibly, could the police have made the 'mistake' of charging the wrong man with the notorious Red Light Bandit crimes? That also is something that is fully revealed in the Pandora's Box of facts I have prepared. View quote
Caryl Chessman