--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We don't cut off the hands of thieves or…" description: "\"We don't cut off the hands of thieves or castrate rapists. Why must we murder murderers?\" — Wendy Kaminer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2a/wendy-kaminer-16305_cutting_we-don-t-cut-off-the-hands-of-thieves-or_469574.jpg" --- # We don't cut off the hands of thieves or castrate rapists… ![“We don't cut off the hands of thieves or castrate rapists. Why must we murder murderers?” quote by Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2a/wendy-kaminer-16305_cutting_we-don-t-cut-off-the-hands-of-thieves-or_469574.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2a/wendy-kaminer-16305_cutting_we-don-t-cut-off-the-hands-of-thieves-or_469574.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2a/wendy-kaminer-16305_cutting_we-don-t-cut-off-the-hands-of-thieves-or_469574.jpg) > “We don't cut off the hands of thieves or castrate rapists. Why must we murder murderers?” [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Violence be punishment is paradoxical; killing a murderer continues the cycle of killing. **In simple terms:** Killing murderers repeats violence. Key Takeaway Seek non‑lethal justice solutions. Themes justice violence ethics law punishment Mood provocative ethical Type philosophical debate When to use this quote - legal reform - restorative justice programs - public debate - policy making Key Concepts retributive justice moral paradox crime prevention Questions to Reflect On - Is capital punishment ever justified? - What alternatives reduce crime without killing? A Different Perspective The stance may ignore practical safety concerns. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Castrate Rapists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/castrate-rapists-4062541/) [Cutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cutting/) [Death penalty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-penalty/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Murder Murderers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder-murderers-4062540/) [Murderer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murderer/) [Murderers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murderers/) [Rapists Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rapists-murder-4062542/) [Thieves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thieves/) ## Related quotes > [If we are to abolish the death penalty, I should like to see the first step taken by our friends the murderers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonse-karr/if-we-are-to-abolish-the-death-penalty-i-should-like-to-see-the-first/) [Alphonse Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonse-karr/) > [Those are the murderers of art who are sitting on the top wearing crowns of fake intelligence. Let me bring them down with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeet-aulakh/those-are-the-murderers-of-art-who-are-sitting-on-the-top-wearing/) [Jeet Aulakh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeet-aulakh/) > [War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. All wars, and all decent people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-b-ferencz/war-makes-murderers-out-of-otherwise-decent-people-all-wars-and-all/) [Benjamin B. Ferencz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-b-ferencz/) > [Therefore, not only are their passions satanic, but their lives are diabolic. So I say to you that these are even worse than murderers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-john-chrysostom/therefore-not-only-are-their-passions-satanic-but-their-lives-are/) [Saint John Chrysostom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-john-chrysostom/) > [Those who believe in their truth -- the only ones whose imprint is retained by the memory of men -- leave the earth behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/those-who-believe-in-their-truth-the-only-ones-whose-imprint-is/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [We must kill them in war, just because they live beyond the river. If they lived on this side, we would be called murderers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/we-must-kill-them-in-war-just-because-they-live-beyond-the-river-if/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [Truly, whoever we are, wherever we reside, we exist upon the whim of murderers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/truly-whoever-we-are-wherever-we-reside-we-exist-upon-the-whim-of/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Modern conquerors can kill, but do not seem to be able to create. Artists know how to create but cannot really kill. Murderers are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/modern-conquerors-can-kill-but-do-not-seem-to-be-able-to-create/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Before we snap to judge someone who's done a horrible crime, is it possible that all of us in the worst possible circumstances could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-black/before-we-snap-to-judge-someone-who-s-done-a-horrible-crime-is-it/) [Jack Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-black/) > [Families are great murderers of the creative impulsive, particularly husbands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-ueland/families-are-great-murderers-of-the-creative-impulsive-particularly/) [Brenda Ueland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-ueland/) > [Two of the three men, who were imprisoned, Norman Butler and Robert 15x Johnson, convicted and given life sentences, I'm absolutely convinced were innocent.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manning-marable/two-of-the-three-men-who-were-imprisoned-norman-butler-and-robert-15x/) [Manning Marable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manning-marable/) > [If you're part of a crew, nobody ever tells you that they're going to kill you, doesn't happen that way. There weren't any arguments…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hill/if-you-re-part-of-a-crew-nobody-ever-tells-you-that-they-re-going-to/) [Henry Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hill/) > [I committed the first crime by creating men as mortals. After that, what more could you do, you the murderers? Come on; they already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-committed-the-first-crime-by-creating-men-as-mortals-after-that/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/god-remains-dead-and-we-have-killed-him-yet-his-shadow-still-looms/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The murderers are loose! They search the world All through the night, oh God, all through the night! To find the fire kindled in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrud-kolmar/the-murderers-are-loose-they-search-the-world-all-through-the-night/) [Gertrud Kolmar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrud-kolmar/) ## More by Wendy Kaminer > [Jargon seems to be the place where the right brain and the left brain meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/jargon-seems-to-be-the-place-where-the-right-brain-and-the-left-brain/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [As Camille Paglia's success has demonstrated, what is most marketable is absolutism and attitude undiluted by thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/as-camille-paglia-s-success-has-demonstrated-what-is-most-marketable/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [I don't spend much time thinking about whether God exists. I don't consider that a relevant question. 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I'm lucky enough to be able to make my living essentially by expressing my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/i-don-t-think-of-myself-as-having-a-particular-role-i-m-lucky-enough/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [There's a way in which all of these grazers at the spirituality buffet are performing a service, because you could argue that grazing leads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/there-s-a-way-in-which-all-of-these-grazers-at-the-spirituality/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [There is this fashionable progressive notion that everything is so completely political that the idea we could have some sort of neutral legal process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/there-is-this-fashionable-progressive-notion-that-everything-is-so/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [The press and the public like certainty and affirmation of popular biases. But real science thrives on the capacity for doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/the-press-and-the-public-like-certainty-and-affirmation-of-popular/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [Faith is not a function of stupidity but a frequent cause of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/faith-is-not-a-function-of-stupidity-but-a-frequent-cause-of-it/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [I do what I do because I have a compulsion to hold forth. I don't spend a lot of time, if any, thinking about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/i-do-what-i-do-because-i-have-a-compulsion-to-hold-forth-i-don-t/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [Only people who die very young learn all they really need to know in kindergarten.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/only-people-who-die-very-young-learn-all-they-really-need-to-know-in/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [The scarcest resource these days is reason. What's certainly striking about American culture today is the great hostility toward science and the decline of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/the-scarcest-resource-these-days-is-reason-what-s-certainly-striking/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) [Explore all 40 Wendy Kaminer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) ## More Cutting quotes > [“I locked the door and turned on the water to fill the tub. 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It's celebrity meets pornography meets politics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-grant/i-didn-t-understand-southland-tales-script-at-all-is-there-a-single/) [Beth Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-grant/) > [Confidence comes from cutting yourself some slack.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-daly/confidence-comes-from-cutting-yourself-some-slack/) [Tess Daly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-daly/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [There ain't no such thing as black Muslims. That's how they tried to cut off all my brothers in the rest of the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/there-ain-t-no-such-thing-as-black-muslims-that-s-how-they-tried-to/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [The child who ran weeping to you with a cut finger is now brought home, smiling gamely, with a broken collarbone and incredible contusions-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-brown/the-child-who-ran-weeping-to-you-with-a-cut-finger-is-now-brought/) [Pam Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-brown/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. 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