I have never been arrested, never spent a night in jail, never had a loved one thrown into the back of a squad car or behind bars, or be at the mercy of a scary, confusing system that at best sees them with indifference, and at worst as monstrous. The United States of America locks up more people than any other nation on the planet, and Louisiana is our biggest incarcerator. Most of you are probably like me -- lucky. The closest we get to crime and punishment is likely what we see on TV. While making "Unprisoned," I met a woman who used to be like us -- Sheila Phipps.
我从没被捕过, 从没在监狱待过一个晚上, 从没看过我爱的人被丢进警车后座, 或坐牢, 或者任由一个可怕、混乱的体制摆布。 这个体制最好情况下对他们冷漠以对, 最坏情况下则像怪物一样看待他们。 美国监禁的人 比这个地球上任何国家都多, 路易斯安那州则是我们最大的监禁者。 你们大多数人很可能像我一样—— 是幸运的。 我们最多大概就是 在电视上看到罪犯与惩罚。 在制作 《被释》节目时, 我遇到个过去也和我们一样的女人—— 席拉 · 菲普斯。
(Recording) Sheila Phipps: Before my son went to jail, I used to see people be on television, fighting, saying, "Oh, this person didn't do it and this person is innocent." And you know, you snub them or you dismiss them, and like, "Yeah, whatever." Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people who deserve to be in prison. There's a lot of criminals out here. But there are a lot of innocent people that's in jail.
(录音)席拉 · 菲普斯: 在我儿子进监狱以前, 我常常在电视上看到人们争吵, 说,“哦,这个人没有干这事, 这人是无辜的。” 而你通常是嗤之以鼻或置若罔闻: “呃,管它呢”。 别误会我, 有很多人应该被关监狱, 外面有很多犯罪。 但是,监狱里也有很多无辜的人。
EA: Sheila's son, McKinley, is one of those innocent people. He served 17 years of a 30-year sentence on a manslaughter charge. He had no previous convictions, there was no forensic evidence in the case. He was convicted solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, and decades of research have shown that eyewitness testimony isn't as reliable as we once believed it to be. Scientists say that memory isn't precise. It's less like playing back a video, and more like putting together a puzzle. Since 1989, when DNA testing was first used to free innocent people, over 70 percent of overturned convictions were based on eyewitness testimony. Last year, the district attorney whose office prosecuted McKinley's case was convicted of unrelated corruption charges. When this district attorney of 30 years stepped down, the eyewitnesses from McKinley's case came forward and said that they had been pressured into testifying by the district attorneys, pressure which included the threat of jail time. Despite this, McKinley is still in prison.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 席拉的儿子, 麦金莱,就是其中一个无辜的人。 他以过失杀人,被判了30年,服刑了17年。 他没有前科, 这个案件没有法医证据。 他的定罪仅仅是基于目击证词, 而几十年的研究已经表明 目击证词没有 我们想象的那么可靠。 科学家说记忆是不精准的。 它不像回放一段视频, 而更像是拼一幅拼图。 自从 1989年,当 DNA 检测 第一次被用于释放无辜的人起, 超过 70% 被推翻的定罪 都是基于目击证词。 去年, 起诉麦金莱案子的地区检察官 因不相关的腐败控告被定罪。 当这名30年的地区检察官下台后, 麦金莱案的目击人们站了出来, 说他们是在受到地区检察官的 强迫下进行作证的, 强迫方式包括蹲监狱的威胁。 尽管这样,麦金莱仍然在监狱中。
(Recording) SP: Before this happened, I never would've thought it. And well, I guess it's hard for me to imagine that these things is going on, you know, until this happened to my son. It really opened my eyes. It really, really opened my eyes. I ain't gonna lie to you.
(录音)席拉 · 菲普斯: 发生这件事之前,我从没想到这点。 我就是很难想象这样的事情会发生, 直到它发生在我儿子身上。 这事真的让我开了眼界。 它真的,真的开了我的眼界。 说实话。
EA: Estimates of how many innocent people are locked up range between one and four percent, which maybe doesn't sound like a lot, except that it amounts to around 87,000 people: mothers, fathers, sons locked up, often for decades, for crimes they did not commit. And that's not even counting the roughly half a million people who have been convicted of nothing -- those presumed innocent, but who are too poor to bail out of jail and therefore sit behind bars for weeks upon months, waiting for their case to come to trial -- or much more likely, waiting to take a plea just to get out. All of those people have family on the outside.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 据估计, 被关押起来的无辜人数 范围是 1% 到 4% 之间, 听起来或许不算很多, 但这相当于大约 87,000 人: 母亲、父亲、儿子被关起来, 通常是几十年, 为他们没犯过的罪刑。 并且这还不包括大约五十万 没有被定罪的人—— 那些很可能是无辜的 但是因为太穷而无力保释的人, 他们因此被关在看守所数周到数月, 只为了等待他们的案子开庭-- 或者更应该说, 等待控罪答辩以求早日脱身。 所有那些人在外面都有家庭。
(Recording) Kortney Williams: My brother missed my high school graduation because the night before, he went to jail. My brother missed my birthday dinner because that day, actually, he went to jail. My brother missed his own birthday dinner because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
(录音)科尔特尼 · 威廉姆斯: 我哥哥错过了我的高中毕业典礼, 因为在头一天晚上, 他进监狱了。 我哥哥错过了我的生日晚宴 因为就在那一天,他进监狱了。 我哥哥错过了他自己的生日晚宴 因为他在错误的时间出现在了错误的地方。
(Recording) EA: So all these times when he ended up going to jail, were charges pressed or did he just get taken to jail?
(录音)伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 他每一次进监狱, 是有控告还是直接被投进监狱的?
KW: The charges would be pressed and it would have a bond posted, then the charges will get dropped ... because there was no evidence.
科尔特尼 · 威廉姆斯:有控告 并且会公布保释金, 然后控告会取消…… 因为没有证据。
EA: I met Kortney Williams when I went to her college classroom to talk about "Unprisoned." She ended up interviewing her aunt, Troylynn Robertson, for an episode.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 我遇见科尔特尼 · 威廉是在 我去她大学教室讲《被释》时。 她后来在一期节目采访了她的阿姨, 特洛琳 · 罗伯逊。
(Recording) KW: With everything that you went through with your children, what is any advice that you would give me if I had any kids?
(录音)科尔特尼 · 威廉姆斯: 在你和你的孩子经历过所有的这些事情后, 你有任何建议给我吗,如果我有孩子的话?
(Recording) Troylynn Roberston: I would tell you when you have them, you know the first thing that will initially come to mind is love and protection, but I would tell you, even much with the protection to raise them with knowledge of the judicial system -- you know, we always tell our kids about the boogeyman, the bad people, who to watch out for, but we don't teach them how to watch out for the judicial system.
(录音)特洛琳 · 罗伯逊: 我会告诉你,当你有孩子的时候 你知道首先会出现在你脑海里的是爱 和保护, 但是我还要告诉你, 在养育他们时比保护更重要的 是给他们传输司法系统的知识 -- 我们总是告诉我们的孩子要小心恶魔、 小心坏人,要小心哪些人, 但是我们没有教他们怎样去小心司法系统。
EA: Because of the way our criminal legal system disproportionately targets people of color, it's not uncommon for young people like Kortney to know about it. When I started going into high schools to talk to students about "Unprisoned," I found that roughly one-third of the young people I spoke with had a loved one behind bars.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 因为我们的刑事法律系统 倾向针对有色人群, 这点像科尔特尼这样的年轻人是知道的。 当我向高中生们讲《被释》时, 我发现大概有三分之一的年轻听众 有一个他们所爱的人被关在狱中。
(Recording) Girl: The hardest part is like finding out where he's at, or like, when his court date is.
(录音)女孩: 最难的是比如找到他在哪儿, 或者,他的庭审时间是什么时候。
Girl: Yeah, he went to jail on my first birthday.
女孩: 嗯,他在我一岁生日时进了监狱。
Girl: My dad works as a guard. He saw my uncle in jail. He's in there for life.
女孩:我爸爸是一名警卫。 他看见我的叔叔在狱中。 他是终身监禁。
EA: According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the number of young people with a father incarcerated rose 500 percent between 1980 and 2000. Over five million of today's children will see a parent incarcerated at some point in their childhoods. But this number disproportionately affects African American children. By the time they reach the age of 14, one in four black children will see their dad go off to prison. That's compared to a rate of one in 30 for white children. One key factor determining the future success of both inmates and their children is whether they can maintain ties during the parent's incarceration, but prisoners' phone calls home can cost 20 to 30 times more than regular phone calls, so many families keep in touch through letters.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 根据安妮 · 凯希基金会的研究 , 其父亲被监禁的年轻人的数量 从1980年到2000年上升了500%。 今天有超过500万的孩子 在他们的童年某个时期 会看到父亲或母亲遵监狱。 但是这个数字更偏向于影响非裔美国儿童。 到他们14岁时, 有四分之一的黑人儿童 会看到他们的父亲去坐牢。 相比之下,白人儿童这个比例是三十分之一。 决定囚犯和他们的孩子 未来是否成功的关键因素之一 是父母被监禁期间是否与孩子维持联系, 但是囚犯打回家的电话费 比常规电话贵20到30倍, 因此很多家庭通过信件来保持联系。
(Recording: Letter being unfolded)
(录音:信件打开)
Anissa Christmas: Dear big brother, I'm making that big 16 this year, LOL. Guess I'm not a baby anymore. You still taking me to prom? I really miss you. You're the only guy that kept it real with me. I wish you were here so I can vent to you. So much has happened since the last time I seen you. (Voice breaking up) I have some good news. I won first place in the science fair. I'm a geek. We're going to regionals, can't you believe it? High school is going by super fast. In less than two years, I hope you'll be able to see me walk across the stage. I thought to write to you because I know it's boring in there. I want to put a smile on your face.
艾妮莎 · 克里斯托马斯: 亲爱的哥哥, 今年我就要过16岁了,哈哈。 我想我不再是儿童了。 你还会带我去舞会吗? 我真的很想你, 你是唯一真诚待我的男孩。 我多希望你就在这里, 这样我就可以向你宣泄了。 自从我上次见你之后发生了很多事情。 我有些好消息, 我在科学竞赛上得了第一名。 我是一名书呆子, 我们将进入地区赛,你相信吗? 高中过得超快。 还有不到两年的时间, 我希望你会看到我走上毕业舞台。 我写信给你是因为我知道 你在里面很无聊, 我想使你的脸上展露笑容。
Anissa wrote these letters to her brother when she was a sophomore in high school. She keeps the letters he writes to her tucked into the frame of her bedroom mirror, and reads them over and over again. I'd like to think that there's a good reason why Anissa's brother is locked up. We all want the wheels of justice to properly turn, but we're coming to understand that the lofty ideals we learned in school look really different in our nation's prisons and jails and courtrooms.
艾妮莎写这些信给她哥哥的时候 她在上高二。 她将他给她写的信藏在 她卧室的镜子的边框里, 一遍一遍地读。 我想相信有好的原因可以解释 为什么艾妮莎的哥哥被关起来, 我们都想要正义的车轮正确地运转。 但是我们渐渐明白 我们在学校里学的那些崇高理想 与我们国家的监狱和法庭的 实际情况很不一样。
(Recording) Danny Engelberg: You walk into that courtroom and you're just -- I've been doing this for a quite a while, and it still catches your breath. You're like, "There are so many people of color here," and yet I know that the city is not made up of 90 percent African Americans, so why is it that 90 percent of the people who are in orange are African American?
(录音)丹尼 · 恩格尔博格: 你走进法庭,然后你—— 我已经干这个很久了, 但是它仍然会让你喘不过气来。 你会想,“那儿有太多的有色人群了”, 而我知道这个城市并不是 由90%的非裔人口构成的, 那么为什么90%的穿橙色囚衣的人 是非裔美国人呢?
(Recording) EA: Public defender Danny Engelberg isn't the only one noticing how many black people are in municipal court -- or in any court. It's hard to miss.
(录音)伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 公共辩护律师 丹尼 · 恩格尔博格并不是唯一一个发现 有多少黑人在地方法庭里 或在任何法庭里的人。 这点让人很难不注意。
Who's sitting in court waiting to see the judge? What do they look like?
在法庭都是谁在等着见法官? 他们看起来是什么样的?
(Recording) Man: Mostly African-Americans, like me.
(录音)男人: 大多数是非裔美国人,比如我。
Man: It's mostly, I could say, 85 percent black. That's all you see in the orange, in the box back there, who locked up. Man: Who's waiting? Mostly black. I mean, there was a couple of white people in there.
男人:大多数—我能说,85%是黑人。 你看到的就是他们穿着橙色囚衣, 被关在那些狭小的空间里。 男人:谁在等?大多数是黑人。 有少数几个白人。
Woman: I think it was about 85 percent African-American that was sitting there.
女人: 我想坐在那儿的85% 是非裔美国人。
EA: How does a young black person growing up in America today come to understand justice? Another "Unprisoned" story was about a troupe of dancers who choreographed a piece called "Hoods Up," which they performed in front of city council. Dawonta White was in the seventh grade for that performance.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 今天在美国长大的黑人青年 如何理解正义呢? 另一个《被释》的故事是关于一群舞者 他们编排了一个叫“戴上兜帽”的舞蹈, 他们在市政委员会前表演。 参与表演的达望塔 · 怀特那时正在上七年级。
(Recording) Dawonta White: We was wearing black with hoodies because Trayvon Martin, when he was wearing his hoodie, he was killed. So we looked upon that, and we said we're going to wear hoodies like Trayvon Martin.
(录音)达望塔 · 怀特: 我们当时 穿的是黑色卫衣因为崔文 · 马丁 被杀时正穿着他的卫衣。 考虑到这点, 我们决定要像崔文 · 马丁那样穿着卫衣。
(Recording) EA: Who came up with that idea?
(录音)伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 谁想到那个主意的?
DW: The group. We all agreed on it. I was a little nervous, but I had stick through it though, but I felt like it was a good thing so they could notice what we do.
达望塔 · 怀特: 整个小组,我们都同意这个主意。 我当时有些紧张,但是我必须坚持, 但是我感觉这是件好事, 这样他们会注意到我们所做的。
(Recording) EA: Shraivell Brown was another choreographer and dancer in "Hoods Up." He says the police criticize people who look like him. He feels judged based on things other black people may have done. How would you want the police to look at you, and what would you want them to think?
(录音)伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 希瑞威尔 · 布朗是“戴上兜帽”中 另一名编舞与舞者。 他说警察会批评看起来像他这样的人。 他感觉他们是基于 其他黑人的所作所为对他加以评判。 你想警察如何看待你呢? 你想他们怎样想呢? 希瑞威尔 · 布朗: 我想让他们觉得我不是威胁。
SB: That I'm not no threat.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 为什么他们会觉得你是威胁的?
EA: Why would they think you're threatening? What did you say, you're 14?
你刚才是不是说你14岁?
SB: Yes, I'm 14, but because he said a lot of black males are thugs or gangsters and all that, but I don't want them thinking that about me.
希瑞威尔 · 布朗: 是的, 我是14岁,但是因为他说很多黑人男性 是恶棍或帮派分子等等, 但是我不想他们这样看我。
EA: For folks who look like me, the easiest and most comfortable thing to do is to not pay attention -- to assume our criminal legal system is working. But if it's not our responsibility to question those assumptions, whose responsibility is it? There's a synagogue here that's taken on learning about mass incarceration, and many congregants have concluded that because mass incarceration throws so many lives into chaos, it actually creates more crime -- makes people less safe. Congregant Teri Hunter says the first step towards action has to be understanding. She says it's crucial for all of us to understand our connection to this issue even if it's not immediately obvious.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 对于像我这样的人, 最简单最容易的事就是不去关注, 去假设我们的刑事法律系统是有效的。 但如果质问那些假设不是我们的责任, 那么是谁的责任呢? 这儿有个犹太教堂 开始更多地了解大规模监禁问题, 很多教徒已经得出结论 因为大规模监禁扰乱了太多人的生命, 这实际上制造了更多犯罪, 使人们更不安全。 教徒泰瑞 · 亨特说, 采取任何行动前的第一步必须是理解。 她说理解这个问题和我们所有人之间的联系 至关重要 就算不是显而易见的联系。
(Recording) Teri Hunter: It's on our shoulders to make sure that we're not just closing that door and saying, "Well, it's not us." And I think as Jews, you know, we've lived that history: "It's not us." And so if a society closes their back on one section, we've seen what happens. And so it is our responsibility as Jews and as members of this community to educate our community -- at least our congregation -- to the extent that we're able.
(录音)泰瑞 · 亨特: 我们肩负着这样的责任, 我们要确保我们不会只是关上门 然后说,“好吧, 那不是我们”。 作为犹太人,你知道, 我们经历过那样的历史: “那不是我们”。 如果一个社会对其中的一群人漠不关心, 我们知道会发生什么。 那么这就是我们的责任,作为犹太人 以及作为这个社区的成员的责任 去教育我们的社区 —— 至少我们的会众 — 尽我们的所能。
EA: I've been using the pronouns "us" and "we" because this is our criminal legal system and our children. We elect the district attorneys, the judges and the legislators who operate these systems for we the people. As a society, we are more willing to risk locking up innocent people than we are to let guilty people go free. We elect politicians who fear being labeled "soft on crime," encouraging them to pass harsh legislation and allocate enormous resources toward locking people up. When a crime is committed, our hunger for swift retribution has fed a police culture bent on finding culprits fast, often without adequate resources to conduct thorough investigations or strict scrutiny of those investigations.
伊芙 · 阿布拉姆斯: 我使用代名词 “我们”, 因为这是我们的刑事法律系统 这关乎我们的孩子。 我们选出了地区检察官、法官以及议员们, 来为我们人民运行这个系统。 作为一个社会, 我们更愿意冒将无辜的人关起来的风险, 而不愿意冒让有罪的人逍遥法外的风险。 我们选举的政治家们害怕 被贴上“对犯罪手软”的标签, 于是他们通过严厉的立法 并且动用大量的资源来将人们关起来。 当犯罪发生时, 我们对快速惩治的渴望导致了一个 倾向快速找到罪犯的警察文化, 他们通常缺少足够的资源去进行彻底调查 或者对那些调查进行严格审查。
We don't put checks on prosecutors. Across the country, over the last couple of decades, as property and violent crimes have both fell, the number of prosecutors employed and cases they have filed has risen. Prosecutors decide whether or not to take legal action against the people police arrest and they decide what charges to file, directly impacting how much time a defendant potentially faces behind bars. One check we do have on prosecutors is defense. Imagine Lady Liberty: the blindfolded woman holding the scale meant to symbolize the balance in our judicial system. Unfortunately, that scale is tipped. The majority of defendants in our country are represented by government-appointed attorneys. These public defenders receive around 30 percent less funding than district attorneys do, and they often have caseloads far outnumbering what the American Bar Association recommends.
我们没有制约检察官。 在全国各地,过去几十年, 随着财产和暴力犯罪双双下降, 受佣的检察官和他们 建立的案件数量都上升了。 检察官们决定是否 对警察抓捕的人采取法律行动 以及他们决定以哪种控告进行立案, 这直接影响被告可能 会在监狱呆多长时间。 我们对检察官的其中一项制约就是辩护。 想象一下自由女神像: 这个被朦着眼睛的女人手持天平, 那个表示我们的司法系统平衡的符号。 不幸的是,那个天平倾斜了。 我国大部分的被告 都是由政府指派的律师代表的。 那些公共辩护律师的经费 比地区检查官低30%, 并且他们手上的案件数量 通常远超美国律师协会建议的数量。
As Sheila Phipps said, there are people who belong in prison, but it's hard to tell the guilty from the innocent when everyone's outcomes are so similar.
正如席拉 · 菲普斯所说, 有人应当遵监狱, 但是当每个人的结果都如此相似时, 很难区分谁是应得,谁是无辜。
We all want justice. But with the process weighed so heavily against defendants, justice is hard to come by. Our criminal legal system operates for we the people. If we don't like what's going on, it is up to us to change it.
我们都想要正义。 但是当流程如此不利于被告时, 正义是很难的。 我们的刑事法律系统 是为我们,为人民服务的, 如果我们不喜欢正在发生的事情, 我们就应该来改变它。
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)