Two weeks ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my wife Katya, and we were talking about what I was going to talk about today. We have an 11-year-old son; his name is Lincoln. He was sitting at the same table, doing his math homework. And during a pause in my conversation with Katya, I looked over at Lincoln and I was suddenly thunderstruck by a recollection of a client of mine.
De semèn de sa a, m te chita bò tab ki nan sal a manje lakay mwen, avèk madanm mwen Katya, epi, nou t ap pale de sa m pral diskite jodi a. Nou gen yon pitit gason ki gen 11 an, ki rele Lincoln (Lenkenn). Li te chita bò menm tab la, li t ap fè devwa matematik li. Epi, pandan yon pòz nan konvèsasyon m nan avèk Katya, m te gade Lincoln epi, m te toudenkou sezi lè lide m te vin tonbe sou youn nan kliyan m yo.
My client was a guy named Will. He was from North Texas. He never knew his father very well, because his father left his mom while she was pregnant with him. And so, he was destined to be raised by a single mom, which might have been all right except that this particular single mom was a paranoid schizophrenic, and when Will was five years old, she tried to kill him with a butcher knife.
Kliyan m nan, se te yon nèg ki te rele Will (Wil), ki te soti nan nò Texas (Tèkzas). Li pa t janm fin konnen papa l trè byen, paske papa l te kite l poukò l ak manman l, lè l te nan vant. Alò, akoz de sa, misye te arive vin grandi ak yon manman ki san mari. Sikonstans sa a, li pa t ap petèt yon pwoblèm si manman sa a pa t yon moun ki gen yon pwoblèm mantal ke yo rele eskitsofreni, epi lè Wil te gen 5 an, manmzèl te eseye touye l avèk yon gwo kouto file.
She was taken away by authorities and placed in a psychiatric hospital, and so for the next several years Will lived with his older brother, until he committed suicide by shooting himself through the heart. And after that Will bounced around from one family member to another, until, by the time he was nine years old, he was essentially living on his own.
Ofisye leta te pran l epi yo te mete l nan yon lopital ki fèt pou moun ki gen pwoblèm mantal, akoz de sa a, pandan plizyè ane aprè, Will t ap viv avèk yon gran frè l avan ke frè sa a te touye tèt li, lè li te pèse pwòp kè l avèk yon bal ki sot nan zam. Epi apre sa a Will te fè va e vyen kay moun fanmi l yo,
That morning that I was sitting with Katya and Lincoln, I looked at my son, and I realized that when my client, Will, was his age, he'd been living by himself for two years. Will eventually joined a gang and committed a number of very serious crimes, including, most seriously of all, a horrible, tragic murder. And Will was ultimately executed as punishment for that crime.
jiskaske lè l te vin gen 9 an, li te prèske ap viv poukò l. Maten sa a, pandan ke m te chita prè Katya ak Lincoln, m te gade pitit gason m nan, epi, m te reyalize ke: lè Will, kliyan m nan, te gen menm laj avè l, li te gentan ap viv poukò l pandan de zan. Will te arive rantre nan yon gang epi li te arive komèt plizyè krim ki trè serye, pami lekèl ki te krim ki pi grav la, yon asasinasyon ki te tèrib e tris. Epi, lajistis te finalman egzekite Will kòm pinisyon pou krim sa a.
But I don't want to talk today about the morality of capital punishment. I certainly think that my client shouldn't have been executed, but what I would like to do today instead is talk about the death penalty in a way I've never done before, in a way that is entirely noncontroversial.
Men, jodi a, m pa vle pale sou moralite bagay ki rele pèn lanmò a. Sètènman, m panse ke lajistis pa t dwe egzekite kliyan m nan, men sa m vle fè jodi a pito, se pale de bagay ki rele pèn lanmò a nan yon fason ke m pa t janm fè sa deja, nan yon fason ki pa p fè okenn moun fache.
I think that's possible, because there is a corner of the death penalty debate -- maybe the most important corner -- where everybody agrees, where the most ardent death penalty supporters and the most vociferous abolitionists are on exactly the same page. That's the corner I want to explore.
Mwen panse ke sa posib, paske gen yon kwen nan deba ki konn fèt sou bagay pèn lanmò a, petèt se kwen sa a ki pi enpòtan, kote ke tout moun dakò, kote moun ki plis sipòte koze pèn lanmò a ak moun ki vrèman kont sa, byen dakò.
Before I do that, though, I want to spend a couple of minutes telling you how a death penalty case unfolds, and then I want to tell you two lessons that I have learned over the last 20 years as a death penalty lawyer from watching well more than a hundred cases unfold in this way.
Se kwen sa a ke m vle analize. Men, avan ke m fè sa a, mwen vle pran kèlke minit pou m eksplike w kijan dosye jiridik pèn lanmò yo dewoule, epi mwen vle pale w de 2 leson ke m te aprann pandan 20 an ki sot pase yo kòm yon avoka ki konn defann moun ke lajistis kondane a mò, lè m te gade plis ke 100 dosye dewoule nan fason ke m pra l eksplike la a.
You can think of a death penalty case as a story that has four chapters. The first chapter of every case is exactly the same, and it is tragic. It begins with the murder of an innocent human being, and it's followed by a trial where the murderer is convicted and sent to death row, and that death sentence is ultimately upheld by the state appellate court.
Ou ka panse de yon ka pèn lanmò tankou yon istwa ki gen 4 chapit. Premye chapit chak dosye yo menm jan, epi sa tris. Chapit sa a kòmanse lè yon moun touye yon lòt ki inosan, epi apre sa a, yon pwosè tribinal komanse kote lajistis kondane epi voye moun ki touye lòt la, al tan lè l pou yo egzekite l. Finalman, pèn lanmò ke yo bay kriminèl sa a arive jwenn konfimasyon kay yon Kou Dapèl nan leta kote pwosè ya te komanse.
The second chapter consists of a complicated legal proceeding known as a state habeas corpus appeal. The third chapter is an even more complicated legal proceeding known as a federal habeas corpus proceeding. And the fourth chapter is one where a variety of things can happen. The lawyers might file a clemency petition, they might initiate even more complex litigation, or they might not do anything at all. But that fourth chapter always ends with an execution.
Dezyèm chapit la gen yon etap legal ki konplike ke yo rele «apèl habeas corpus leta». Twazyèm chapit lan se yon etap legal ki pi konplike ke yo rele «etap habeas corpus federal». Epi, katriyèm chapit lan se youn kote ke yon pakèt bagay ka pase. Avoka yo ka petèt ranpli yon fòmilè pou yo mande padon pou kilyan yo, yo ka komanse yon lòt etap ankò ki pi konplike, oubyen, yo gen dwa pa fè anyen ankò. Men, katriyèm chapit sa a toujou pran fen lè yo egzekite moun sa a ki te touye lòt moun ki inosan an.
When I started representing death row inmates more than 20 years ago, people on death row did not have a right to a lawyer in either the second or the fourth chapter of this story. They were on their own. In fact, it wasn't until the late 1980s that they acquired a right to a lawyer during the third chapter of the story. So what all of these death row inmates had to do was rely on volunteer lawyers to handle their legal proceedings. The problem is that there were way more guys on death row than there were lawyers who had both the interest and the expertise to work on these cases.
20 an de sa a, lè m te kòmanse defann prizonye ke yo mete nan koulwa lanmò prizonye sa yo pat gen dwa jwenn èd avoka pandan dezyèm oubyen katriyèm chapit nan istwa ki antoure ka tribinal yo a. Yo te poukont yo. Anfèt, se pandan fen ane 1980 yo ke yo te arive jwenn dwa ki te pemèt yo jwenn yon avoka ki pou defann yo pandan twazyèm chapit istwa tribinal yo. Akoz de sa a, sa ke prizonye nan koulwa lanmò yo te arive fè sè ke yo te arive al konte sou avoka ki konn travay gratis, ke yo rele «avoka pro bono», pou yo te regle zafè tribinal yo. Pwoblèm ki te vinn genyen, te vinn gen pi plis prizonye nan koulwa lanmò ki te bezwen èd ke avoka ki te gen enterè avèk konpetans espesyal pou yo travay sou ka tribinal yo.
And so inevitably, lawyers drifted to cases that were already in chapter four -- that makes sense, of course. Those are the cases that are most urgent; those are the guys who are closest to being executed. Some of these lawyers were successful; they managed to get new trials for their clients. Others of them managed to extend the lives of their clients, sometimes by years, sometimes by months.
Akoz de sa a, avoka yo te kouri al pran ka ki te gentan nan katriyèm chapit yo. Sètènman, sa fè sans paske ka sa yo, se yo ki te pi ijan. Se prizonye ki te nan etap sa a ki te pi pre egzekisyon yo. Gen kèk nan avoka sa yo ki te reyisi; yo te arive rekòmanse ka kliyan yo. Kèk lòt pami yo te arive pwolonje vi kliyan yo. Kèk fwa yo te pèmèt yo viv plizyè ane oubyen plizyè mwa an plis.
But the one thing that didn't happen was that there was never a serious and sustained decline in the number of annual executions in Texas. In fact, as you can see from this graph, from the time that the Texas execution apparatus got efficient in the mid- to late 1990s, there have only been a couple of years where the number of annual executions dipped below 20.
Men yon bagay ki pa t fèt, kantite moun ke yo te konn egzekite chak ane nan eta Texas la pat janm vrèman diminye; epi lè kantite sa a te diminye, li pa t dire lontan. Okontrè, si w gade graf sa a, w ap konstate ke depi lè Texas te amelyore prosesis ke l konn itilize pou l egzekite prizonye l yo, pandan mitan a fen ane 1990 yo, gen sèlman kèk grenn ane pandanke valè moun ke yo te egzekite yo desann pi ba ke 20.
In a typical year in Texas, we're averaging about two people a month. In some years in Texas, we've executed close to 40 people, and this number has never significantly declined over the last 15 years. And yet, at the same time that we continue to execute about the same number of people every year, the number of people who we're sentencing to death on an annual basis has dropped rather steeply.
Dabitid, chak ane nan eta Texas la nou egzekite a pe prè 2 moun chak mwa. Gen kèk ane nou egzekite anviwon 40 moun, epi nimewo sa a pa janm diminye anpil padan 15 ane ki sot pase yo. Men, pandan ke n kontinye ap egzekite menm kantite moun chak ane, valè moun ke n ap kondane a mò chak ane
So we have this paradox,
arive vinn desann anpil.
which is that the number of annual executions has remained high but the number of new death sentences has gone down. Why is that? It can't be attributed to a decline in the murder rate, because the murder rate has not declined nearly so steeply as the red line on that graph has gone down. What has happened instead is that juries have started to sentence more and more people to prison for the rest of their lives without the possibility of parole, rather than sending them to the execution chamber.
Akoz de sa a, nou vinn trouve yon paradòks. Pandan kantite moun ke n egzekite chak ane rete wo valè moun ke n kondane a mò ap desann. Poukisa sa rive? Sa pa t fèt paske kantite moun ke yo asasine chak ane desann. Paske pousantaj moun ke yo touye pa bese anpil tankòm liy rouj nan graf sa a desann. Sa k vinn rive pito moun ki fè pati jiri tribinal yo kòmanse voye plis moun nan prizon pou rès vi yo, san yo pa ba yo posibilite pou yo soti, olye ke yo voye yo al nan chanm egzekisyon.
Why has that happened? It hasn't happened because of a dissolution of popular support for the death penalty. Death penalty opponents take great solace in the fact that death penalty support in Texas is at an all-time low. Do you know what all-time low in Texas means? It means that it's in the low 60 percent. Now, that's really good compared to the mid-1980s, when it was in excess of 80 percent, but we can't explain the decline in death sentences and the affinity for life without the possibility of parole by an erosion of support for the death penalty, because people still support the death penalty.
Poukisa sa vin rive? Li pa rive fèt paske koze pèn lanmò a ap pèdi sipò popilè l. Moun ki kont bagay pèn lanmò a kontan anpil paske kantite moun ki sipòte sa a nan eta Texas la vin rive nan yon nivo ki se nivo ki pi ba a travè listwa eta a. Ou konn sa nivo ba sa ye? Li yon ti jan pi plis ke 60 pousan konsa. Nivo sa a pi bon ke nivo ki te egziste pandan ane 1980 yo, lè sa te pi plis ke 80 pousan. Menm si sa, nou pa ka di se paske koze pèn lanmò a te pèdi sipò popilè l ki fè ke kantite fwa yo kondane moun a mò vin bese, avèk preferans moun vin genyen pou kondanasyon pèmanant nan prizon ogmante. Plen moun jodi a ki toujou sipòte koze pèn lanmò a.
What's happened to cause this phenomenon? What's happened is that lawyers who represent death row inmates have shifted their focus to earlier and earlier chapters of the death penalty story.
Kisa ki koze fenomèn sa a? Sa k rive sè ke avoka ki konn defann prizonye ki nan koulwa lanmò yo te kòmanse konsantre sou chapit ki o kòmansman istwa bagay pèn lanmò a.
So 25 years ago, they focused on chapter four. And they went from chapter four 25 years ago to chapter three in the late 1980s. And they went from chapter three in the late 1980s to chapter two in the mid-1990s. And beginning in the mid- to late 1990s, they began to focus on chapter one of the story.
Alò, 25 an de sa, yo te konsantre sou chapit 4. Epi, 25 an de sa, yo retire fokis yo sou chapit 4 pou yo al nan chapit 3 pandan fen ane 1980 yo. Epi, yo te chanje fokis yo sou chapit 3 en 1980 pou yo vire l sou chapit 2 pandan ane ki nan mitan syèk 1990 yo. Epi, apati de mitan a fen ane 1990 yo, yo te kòmanse fokis sou chapit 1 de istwa a.
Now, you might think that this decline in death sentences and the increase in the number of life sentences is a good thing or a bad thing. I don't want to have a conversation about that today. All that I want to tell you is that the reason that this has happened is because death penalty lawyers have understood that the earlier you intervene in a case, the greater the likelihood that you're going to save your client's life. That's the first thing I've learned.
Ou ka panse dèske kantite de moun ke yo kondane a mò, epi ogmantasyon nan nimewo pèn a vi yo, se yon bagay ki bon ou mal. Mwen pa vle pale de sa jodi a. Sa ke m vle di w sèlman sè ke rezon ki fèt ke sa rive sè ke avoka prizonye kòz pèn lanmò sa yo, yo arive konprann ke pi bonè ke w entèvni nan yon ka, pi bon chans ke w genyen pou w sove vi kliyan w lan. Se premye bagay ke m te arive aprann.
Here's the second thing I learned: My client Will was not the exception to the rule; he was the rule. I sometimes say, if you tell me the name of a death row inmate -- doesn't matter what state he's in, doesn't matter if I've ever met him before -- I'll write his biography for you. And eight out of 10 times, the details of that biography will be more or less accurate.
Men dezyèm bagay ke m te aprann: Kliyanm nan ki rele Will la se pa yon ka eksepsyonèl ke ka li a te ye; pito, ka li a te trè nòmal. Gen dè fwa, mwen di ke si w di m non yon prizonye ki te nan koulwa lanmò mwen pa bezwen konn nan ki eta ke l ye, sa pa fè okenn diferans si m te rankontre l deja Mwen ka ekri istwa vil pou ou. Epi, 8 nan 10 fwa sa yo, detay ke m te ka bay sou istwa vi l,
And the reason for that is that 80 percent of the people on death row are people who came from the same sort of dysfunctional family that Will did. Eighty percent of the people on death row are people who had exposure to the juvenile justice system. That's the second lesson that I've learned.
yo a p jeneralman vrè. Epi, rezon ki fè sa a, sè ke 80 pousan moun ke yo plase nan koulwa lanmò se moun ki te soti nan menm tip de fanmiy disfonksyonèl ke Will te soti ladan l lan. 80 pou san de moun ki nan koulwa lanmò se moun ki te nan prizon ke yo fè pou jèn ki gen mwen ke 18 an. Se dezwèm leson sa a
Now we're right on the cusp of that corner
ke m te arive aprann
where everybody's going to agree. People in this room might disagree about whether Will should have been executed, but I think everybody would agree that the best possible version of his story would be a story where no murder ever occurs. How do we do that?
Kounya, nou trouve tèt nou prè kònè kote ke tout moun pral dakò. Kèk moun isi a gen dwa pa dakò avèk desizyon ke leta te pran pou l egzekite Will, men mwen panse ke tout moun ta dakò ke vèsyon istwa Will la ki ta pi bon an se ta yon istwa nan lekèl yon asasinasyon pa t ap janm rive.
When our son Lincoln was working on that math problem two weeks ago,
Kijan ke n ka fè sa rive?
it was a big, gnarly problem. And he was learning how, when you have a big old gnarly problem, sometimes the solution is to slice it into smaller problems. That's what we do for most problems -- in math, in physics, even in social policy -- we slice them into smaller, more manageable problems. But every once in a while, as Dwight Eisenhower said, the way you solve a problem is to make it bigger.
Lè pitit nou an, Lincoln, t ap travay sou pwoblèm matematik sa a 2 semèn de sa a, se te yon pwoblèm ki te jeyan epi efreyan Epi li t ap aprann kòman ke lè w gen yon gwo problèm Gen dè fwa, solisyon an se separe gwo problèm sa a an pati ki pi piti; Se sa ke n fè pou majorite gwo pwoblèm --nan matematik epi fizik, menm nan domèn politik sosyal -- nou separe yo epi nou fè yo vin tounen pwoblèm ke moun ka pi byen jere. Men, gen kèt fwa konsa, tankòm Dwight Eisenhower te di, «Fason ke moun dwe rezoud yon pwoblèm, se fè sa a vin pi gwo.»
The way we solve this problem is to make the issue of the death penalty bigger. We have to say, all right. We have these four chapters of a death penalty story, but what happens before that story begins? How can we intervene in the life of a murderer before he's a murderer? What options do we have to nudge that person off of the path that is going to lead to a result that everybody -- death penalty supporters and death penalty opponents -- still think is a bad result: the murder of an innocent human being?
Fason ke n ka rezoud pwoblèm sa a se si n ta bay zafè pèn lanmò sa a plis enpòtans. Fòk nou deklare ke: oke, nou gen 4 chapit nan istwa pèn lanmò a, men, sa k rive avan istwa sa kòmanse? Kijan èske n ka entèvni nan vi yon asasen avan ke l devni yon asasen? Ki chwa ke n genyen ki ka pèmèt nou jantiyman retire moun sa a sou chemen ki pral bay yon rezilta ke tout moun -- sipòtè pèn lanmò yo, ak moun ki kont sa a -- toujou panse ki se yon rezilta ki mal: asasinasyon yon èt imen ki inosan?
You know, sometimes people say that something isn't rocket science. And by that, what they mean is rocket science is really complicated and this problem that we're talking about now is really simple. Well that's rocket science; that's the mathematical expression for the thrust created by a rocket. What we're talking about today is just as complicated. What we're talking about today is also rocket science.
Ou konnen, gen dè fwa moun di ke kèk bagay pa konplike anpil tankòm syans fize (jeni ayewospasyal). Lè yo di sa a, sa yo vle di, sè ke syans fize a se yon bagay ki trè konplike. Men, pwoblèm sa ke n a p diskite la a, li trè senp. Imaj sa a montre w sa syans fize ye; sa se ekspresyon matematik pou fòs ke yon fize bay lè l a p fè mouvman. Bagay ke n a p egzamine jodi a se menm nivo konplikasyon an ke l genyen. Sa ke n a p analize la a jodia, se
My client Will and 80 percent of the people on death row
syans fize ke l ye tou.
had five chapters in their lives that came before the four chapters of the death penalty story. I think of these five chapters as points of intervention, places in their lives when our society could've intervened in their lives and nudged them off of the path that they were on that created a consequence that we all -- death penalty supporters or death penalty opponents -- say was a bad result.
Kliyanm nan ki rele Will la ak 80 pou san moun ki nan koulwa lanmò te gen 5 chapit nan vi yo ki te vini avan 4 chapit istwa pèn lanmò a. Mwen panse a 5 chapit sa yo tankòm pwen entèvansyon; pati nan vi yo kote ke sosyete nou an te ka entèveni nan vi yo pou l te ka retire yo sou chemen ke yo te ye ya; Ki te kreye yon kosekans ke nou tout, ni moun ki sipòte pèn lanmò ni moun ki kont li, di ki pa yon bon rezilta. Pandan chak nan
Now, during each of these five chapters: when his mother was pregnant with him; in his early childhood years; when he was in elementary school; when he was in middle school and then high school; and when he was in the juvenile justice system -- during each of those five chapters, there were a wide variety of things that society could have done. In fact, if we just imagine that there are five different modes of intervention, the way that society could intervene in each of those five chapters, and we could mix and match them any way we want, there are 3,000 -- more than 3,000 -- possible strategies that we could embrace in order to nudge kids like Will off of the path that they're on.
5 chapit sa yo: lè manman l te ansent, pandan ane ke l te pase tankòm yon anfan, lè l te nan lekòl primè, lè l te nan lekòl segondè, epi lè l te nan sistèm jistis ki fèt pou ti moun yo, pandan chak nan 5 chapit sa yo, te gen anpil bagay sosyete ya te ka fè. Anfèt, si nou imajine: gen 5 diferan sòt de entèvansyon, fason sosyete a te ka entèveni. Nan chak 5 chapit sa yo nou ka melange yo fason nou vle gen plis ke 3000 strateji ke nou ka anbrase pou nou te ka retire timoun tankou Will sou chemen ke yo ye.
So I'm not standing here today with the solution. But the fact that we still have a lot to learn, that doesn't mean that we don't know a lot already. We know from experience in other states that there are a wide variety of modes of intervention that we could be using in Texas, and in every other state that isn't using them, in order to prevent a consequence that we all agree is bad.
Mwen pa kanpe la jodi a pou m di tke mwen posede solisyon an. Men, le fèt ke nou gen anpil bagay pou nou aprann toujou, pa vle di ke nou pa konn anpil lòt bagay deja. Daprè eksperyans lòt eta peyi a, nou konnen ke gen anpil tip de entèvansyon ke nou ka itilizé an Texas epi nan nenpot lòt eta ki pa pitilize yo aktyèlman, pou nou prevante yon konsekans ke nou tout dakò ki pa bon.
I'll just mention a few. I won't talk today about reforming the legal system. That's probably a topic that is best reserved for a room full of lawyers and judges. Instead, let me talk about a couple of modes of intervention that we can all help accomplish, because they are modes of intervention that will come about when legislators and policymakers, when taxpayers and citizens, agree that that's what we ought to be doing and that's how we ought to be spending our money.
Ban mwen mansyone kèk ladan yo. Mwen pa p pale jodi a de refòmasyon sistèm lalwa nou an. Sa se yon sijè ke nou ka rezève pou yon sal ki plen avoka ak jij. Mwen pito vle pale de 2 tip entèvansyon ke nou tout ka ede peyi a reyalize. Paske se sòt de entèvansyon k ap vin yon reyalite lè lejislatè yo, avèk moun ki kreye règ politik peyo nou an, debousè enpo yo, ak sitwayen, dakò ke se konsa ke nou ta dwe ap depanse lajan nou.
We could be providing early childhood care for economically disadvantaged and otherwise troubled kids, and we could be doing it for free. And we could be nudging kids like Will off of the path that we're on. There are other states that do that, but we don't.
Nou te kapab founi swen pou ti moun ki gen kontraryete ekonomik, ak lòt tip de pwoblèm ankò, ki ap soufri, epi nou te ka fè sa a gratis. Epi ankò, nou te ka retire timoun tankou Will sou chemen ke yo ye a. Gen lòt eta ki fè sa, men, nan Texas, nou pa fè l.
We could be providing special schools, at both the high school level and the middle school level, but even in K-5, that target economically and otherwise disadvantaged kids, and particularly kids who have had exposure to the juvenile justice system. There are a handful of states that do that; Texas doesn't.
Nou te kapab founi lekòl spesyal --ni nan primè, ni nan segondè-- epi menm pandan kintègaden jiska senkyèm pwogram ki gen objektif pou yo ede timoun ki gen pwoblèm ekonomik, epi nan lòt fason tou espesyalman pou timoun ki gentan fè pati sistèm jistis tribinal ki rezève pou timoun. Gen kèk grenn eta ki fè sa
There's one other thing we can be doing -- well, there are a bunch of other things -- there's one other thing that I'm going to mention, and this is going to be the only controversial thing that I say today. We could be intervening much more aggressively into dangerously dysfunctional homes, and getting kids out of them before their moms pick up butcher knives and threaten to kill them. If we're going to do that, we need a place to put them.
Texas pa fè l. Gen yon lòt bagay ankò ke nou te kapab fè; franchman, gen anpil lòt bagay ankò ke nou te kapab fè. Gen yon lòt bagay ke nou te kapab fè ke m pra l pale de li. Sa se sè l bagay kontwovèsyal ke m ap di jodi a: nou ka entèvni pi agresiveman nan fwaye fanmiy ki pa fonksyone byen. Nou ka retire timoun yo nan jan de kay sa yo, avan ke manman yo pran couto pou yo menase yo. Si poun n fè sa a,
Even if we do all of those things, some kids are going to fall through the cracks and they're going to end up in that last chapter before the murder story begins, they're going to end up in the juvenile justice system. And even if that happens, it's not yet too late. There's still time to nudge them, if we think about nudging them rather than just punishing them.
nou ap bezwen yon kote pou nou mete yo. Menm lè nou fe tout jan de bagay sa yo, gen timoun ke sistèm nan an ap arive neglije yo pral arive nan dènye chapit avan istwa asasinasyon yo a kòmanse. Yo pral rantre nan sistèm jistis ki fèt pou ti moun yo. Menm si sa ta rive, li t ap toujou pako twò ta. T ap gen tan toujou pou n ta epanye yo. Si nou panse a epanye yo
There are two professors in the Northeast -- one at Yale and one at Maryland -- they set up a school that is attached to a juvenile prison. And the kids are in prison, but they go to school from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. Now, it was logistically difficult. They had to recruit teachers who wanted to teach inside a prison, they had to establish strict separation between the people who work at the school and the prison authorities, and most dauntingly of all, they needed to invent a new curriculum because you know what? People don't come into and out of prison on a semester basis.
olye ke nou pini yo. Gen 2 profesè nan pati nòdès peyi a, yonn nan Yale, lòt la nan Maryland. Yo mete yon lekòl sou pye ki konekte avèk prizon ki fèt pou timoun yo. Timoun yo nan prizon, men yo a l lekòl de 8 è di maten jiska 4 aprè midi. Se pa t yon plan ki te fasil pou yo te reyalize. Yo te oblije chache profesè ki te vle ansenye anndan prizon. Yo te oblije etabli yon separasyon di, ant moun ki travay nan lekól la avèk moun ki gen otorite nan prizon an. E sa ki te pi difisil la a, yo te oblije envante yon nouvo pwogram skolè. Paske moun pa antre soti nan prizon regilyèman chak semès.
(Laughter)
But they did all those things.
Men, yo te kanmèm arive reyalize tout bagay sa yo.
Now, what do all of these things have in common? What all of these things have in common is that they cost money. Some of the people in the room might be old enough to remember the guy on the old oil filter commercial. He used to say, "Well, you can pay me now or you can pay me later." What we're doing in the death penalty system is we're paying later.
Kisa trè tout bagay sa yo genyen ki menm? Sa bagay sa yo genyen en komen, sè ke yo tout koute lajan. Kèk nan moun ki nan sal la gen ase laj pou yo sonje mesye sou ansyen reklam filt lwil ki fèt pou machin yo; li te kon, di, «Ou ka peye m kounya oubyen ou ka peye m pita.» Sa ke n ap fè la, nan sistèm ki pèmèt nou kondane moun a pèn lanmó, sè ke n ap peye pita.
But the thing is that for every 15,000 dollars that we spend intervening in the lives of economically and otherwise disadvantaged kids in those earlier chapters, we save 80,000 dollars in crime-related costs down the road. Even if you don't agree that there's a moral imperative that we do it, it just makes economic sense.
Men, yon sèl bagay pou chak 15.000 dola ke nou depanse pou nou entèveni nan vi timoun ki gen pwoblèm ekonomik nou evite yon depans de 80.000 dola nan bidjé ke nou kreye pou n konbat krim. Menm si ou pa dakò pou n ta aji akoz de yon rezon moral, li fè sans nan domèn ekonomik.
I want to tell you about the last conversation that I had with Will. It was the day that he was going to be executed, and we were just talking. There was nothing left to do in his case. And we were talking about his life. And he was talking first about his dad, who he hardly knew, who had died, and then about his mom, who he did know, who was still alive.
Mwen vle pale w de yon mòso nan dènye konvèsasyon ke mwen te fè ak Will. Se te jou yo te pral egzekite l la. Nou t ap pale, pa t gen anyen ankó pou nou te fè pou n te sove ka l la. Nou t ap pale de vi l. Premyéman li te pale de papa l, ke l pa t menm byen konnen, ki te mouri. Nou t ap pale de manman l, ke l te konnen,
And I said to him, "I know the story. I've read the records. I know that she tried to kill you." I said, "But I've always wondered whether you really actually remember that." I said, "I don't remember anything from when I was five years old. Maybe you just remember somebody telling you."
ki toujou vivan. Mwen te di li: mwen konnen istwa l la. Mwen te li achiv yo; mwen konnen ke l te eseye touye w. Men, mwen toujou ap poze tèt mwen yon kesyon: mwen mande èske w sonje tout bon vre. Paske mwen menm, mwen pa sonje anyen de lè m te gen 5 an.
And he looked at me and he leaned forward, and he said, "Professor," -- he'd known me for 12 years, he still called me Professor. He said, "Professor, I don't mean any disrespect by this, but when your mama picks up a butcher knife that looks bigger than you are, and chases you through the house screaming she's going to kill you, and you have to lock yourself in the bathroom and lean against the door and holler for help until the police get there," he looked at me and he said, "that's something you don't forget."
Petèt ou ka sonje sa yon moun te di w. Li te gade m, epi li te kage devan, li te rele m «Pwofesè» malgre ke l te gen 12 an depi ke l te konnen m, Li te deklare: «Pwofesè, mwen p ap di sa m pral di la a pou m derespekte w, men lè manman w pran yon kouto ki parèt pi gwo pase w, epi l kouri dèyè w nan tout kay la, epi l ap deklare ke li pra l touye w. Ou oblije al kache nan twalèt la, apiye sou pót la, rele amwey pou jis kaske polisye yo vini.» Li te gade m epi l te di: «Sa se yon bagay ke w pap janm bliye.»
I hope there's one thing you all won't forget: In between the time you arrived here this morning and the time we break for lunch, there are going to be four homicides in the United States. We're going to devote enormous social resources to punishing the people who commit those crimes, and that's appropriate because we should punish people who do bad things. But three of those crimes are preventable.
Mwen swete ke gen yon bagay ke nou tout p ap bliyé ant lè ke nou rive la ek lè ke nou pral kanpe, pou na l manje dejene, pra l gen 4 asasinasyon atravè Ozetazini. Nou pra l konsakre anpil resous sosyal pou n pini moun ki fè krim sa yo. Pinisyon nou yo konvenab paske nou dwe pini moun ki fè sa k pa sa. Men gen 3 nan krim sa yo, nou te ka epanye.
If we make the picture bigger and devote our attention to the earlier chapters, then we're never going to write the first sentence that begins the death penalty story.
Si nou pa gade pi byen pou nou konsantre sou chapit ki o kòmansman yo, nou p ap janm ka ekri premye fraz ki kòmanse wout pèn lanmó a.
Thank you.
Mèsi!
(Applause)
(Aplodisman...)