Question for the quotation gurus

[Alice Faber]

The question has arisen on one of my newsgroups about the source of a
particular quotation: "the failure of justice is more damaging to
society than crime itself."

Googling suggests Clarence Darrow, but in an indirect way that doesn't
inspire confidence. (Bill Maher, quoted the phrase, with the attribution
to Darrow, on Larry King Live last December.) The only other googlits
are from the sigquote of a poster on skyscrapercity.com.

A newsgroup poster found, in a 1776 B movie, Lipstick: "Crime cannot be
avoided because no human being is perfect. But the failure of justice is
more damaging to society than crime itself."

We suppose it *could* be from the movie, but we'd all like to know if it
really was Darrow (or whether Darrow's just a magnet for legal
aphorisms) in the way that Dorothy Parker is for acerbic put-downs.

--
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Alice Faber                                      faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                              fax (203) 865-8963

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