Would you ever forgive a person who kills a member of your family? In September of 2019, Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced for murder, and then the brother of the victim forgave her. Brandt Jean was 18 years old, and I joined the rest of the country watching on television in awe at that act of grace.
你会原谅一个杀害了 你家人的罪犯吗? 在 2019 年 9 月, 达拉斯警察安柏尔 · 盖格 (Amber Guyger)因谋杀被判刑, 紧接着受害者的兄弟 宽恕了她。 当时布兰特 · 基恩 (Brandt Jean)18 岁, 而我和全国的观众在电视上见证了 他这仁慈之举,并深感敬佩。
But I also worried. I worried that people who are African American like Brandt Jean are expected to forgive more often than other people. And I worried that a white police officer like Amber Guyger receives a lesser sentence than other people who commit wrongful killings.
但我也担心, 我担心像布兰特 · 基恩 这样的非裔美国人 会比他人更频繁地 被期望去原谅。 我也担心像安柏尔 · 盖格 这样的白人警员, 比起犯下同样过失杀人罪的人 会受到更轻的责罚。
But because I'm a law professor, I also worried about the law itself. The law leans so severely towards punishment these days that it's part of the problem. And that's what I want to talk about here.
但因为我是一位法律学教授, 我也担心法律本身。 目前法律如此严重地倾向于惩罚, 这就是问题的一部分, 而这便是我想在这里探讨的主题。
The powerful example of one individual's forgiveness makes me worry that lawyers and officials too often overlook the tools that law itself creates to allow forgiveness, when the principle should be the cornerstone of a thriving society. I worry that lawyers and officials do not adequately use the tools of forgiveness, by which I mean letting go of justified grievance. And those tools are many. They include pardons, commutations, expungement, bankruptcy for debt and the discretion that's held by police and prosecutors and judges.
个人宽恕的有力案例 让我担心律师和官员经常会忽略 法律本身创造出来的 允许宽恕的工具, 而这条原则本应该是 一个繁荣社会的基石。 我担心律师和官员不能够 合理地利用宽恕的工具, 我的意思是放过了正当的申诉。 那样的工具有很多, 包括赦免、减刑、消除犯罪记录、 债务抵押, 以及警方、检察官和法官的酌情权。
But I also worry -- I worry a lot --
但我还是担心—— 我担心的事很多——
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I worry that these tools, when used, replicate the disparities, the inequities along the lines of race and class and other markers of advantage and disadvantage. Biases or privileged access are at work when United States presidents pardon people charged with crimes. Historically, white people are pardoned four times as often as members of minority groups for the same crime, same sentence.
我担心这些工具, 使用时会再现悬殊差距, 即由种族、阶级和其他各种 划分优势、弱势的标记 而导致的不平等。 当美国总统赦免犯罪时, 偏见和特权也在起作用。 历史记录显示, 针对同样的罪行与惩罚, 白人被豁免的概率是 其他少数群体的四倍。
Forgiveness between individuals is supported by every religious tradition, every philosophic tradition. And medical evidence now shows the health benefits of letting go of grievances and resentments. As Nelson Mandela led South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy, he explained, "Resentment is like drinking a poison and hoping it will kill your enemies."
人与人之间的宽恕 是被所有宗教传统、 所有哲学传所支持的。 而今医学证据显示, 放下不满和仇恨对我们的健康有益。 正如曼德拉领导着南非 从种族隔离走向民主时, 他解释道, “仇恨就像是自己喝下毒药, 却希望它能杀死你的敌人。”
Law can remove the penalties for those who apologize and seek forgiveness. For example, in 39 states in the United States and the District of Columbia, there are laws that allow medical professionals to apologize when something goes wrong and not fear that that statement could later be used against them in an action for damages. More actively, bankruptcy law offers debtors, under some conditions, the chance to start anew. Pardons and expungements sealing criminal records can, too.
法律能够为愿意道歉 并寻求宽恕者豁免刑罚。 比如,在美国的 39 个州 以及哥伦比亚特区, 有法律允许医务工作者 在出现问题时道歉, 而不用害怕道歉的内容 在后续的损害诉讼中 被用作指控他们的不利证据。 更主动的是破产法, 在某些条件下会给负债人 一个重新开始的机会。 赦免和消除犯罪记录亦如是。
I have been teaching law for almost 40 years, hard to believe, but recently, I realized that we don't teach law students about the tools of forgiveness that are within the legal system, and nor do law schools usually explore the potential for new avenues for forgiveness that law can adopt or assist. These are lost opportunities. These are lost obligations, even, because the students that I teach will become prosecutors, judges, governors, presidents. Barack Obama, my former student, used his power as the President of the United States to give pardons. That released several hundred people from prison after the law changed to provide shorter sentences for the same drug crimes for which they had been convicted. But if he hadn't used his pardon power, they would still be in prison.
不敢相信,我教了快 40 年的法律, 但最近,我才意识到, 我们没有把法律体系内 有关宽恕的工具, 教给法学生们, 法学院通常也不会探索 法律能够采用或协助的 潜在的宽恕新途径。 这些都是错失的机会, 甚至可以说是错失的义务, 因为我教的学生 将来会成为检察官、法官、州长、总统。 巴拉克 · 奥巴马(Barack Obama) 就是我以前的学生, 他曾用身为美国总统的特权给予特赦, 从监狱里释放了数百人, 他们当初因毒品犯罪被定罪, 而法律修改后, 相对应的刑期已被缩短。 如果他当时没有使用特赦权, 那么这些人至今仍将身处狱中。
Legal tools of forgiveness should be used more, but not without reason and not with bias. A "New Yorker" cartoon shows a judge with a big nose and a big mustache looking down at a defendant with the exact same nose and exact same mustache and says, "Obviously not guilty."
法律内宽恕的工具应当被更多使用, 但必须要有理由,且不带偏见。 《纽约客》杂志有幅漫画, 一位大鼻子、大胡须的法官, 他向下看着的被告 也有和他一模一样的鼻子 和一模一样的胡须, 然后法官说,“很明显,无罪。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Forgiveness could undermine the commitment that law has to treat people the same under the same circumstances, to apply rules evenly. In this age of resentment, mass incarceration, widespread consumer debt, we need more forgiveness, but we need a philosophy of forgiveness. We need to forgive fairly.
宽恕有可能会动摇法律的承诺: 在同样的情况下, 一视同仁地对待所有人, 公正地应用法律条例。 在这个充满仇恨、大量监禁、 消费债务泛滥的时代, 我们需要更多的宽恕, 但我们更需要宽恕的哲学。 我们需要公平的宽恕。
Contrast the treatment globally of child soldiers with the treatment of juvenile offenders in the United States. International human rights condemn and punish adults who involve children in armed conflict as those most responsible, but treat the children themselves quite differently. The International Criminal Court, now with 122 member nations, convicted Thomas Lubanga, warlord in the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo, for enlisting, recruiting and deploying children, teens, as soldiers. Many nations commit to ensuring that people under the age of 15 do not become child soldiers, and most nations treat those who do become soldiers not as objects of punishment but as people deserving a fresh start.
让我们将全世界儿童兵所受到的待遇 和美国少年犯所受到的待遇对比。 国际人权条例会谴责并惩罚那些 让孩童涉入武装冲突的成人, 认为他们最该为此负责, 而对那些孩童本身的处置 则大为不同。 国际刑事法院 现在有 122 个成员国, 该法庭将刚果(民主共和国)的军阀 托马斯 · 卢班加(Thomas Lubanga)定罪, 因其征募、招募和部署 儿童和青少年从军。 许多国家致力于 确保 15 岁以下的人 不会成为儿童兵, 而且大多数国家不会把那些 已成为儿童兵的孩子作为惩罚对象, 而是认为他们理应获得 重新开始的机会。
Compare and contrast how the United States treats juvenile offenders, where we severely punish minors, often moving them to adult courts, even adult prisons. And yet, like child soldiers, teens and children are drawn into violent activity in the United States when there are few options, when they are threatened or when adults induce them with money or ideology. The rhetoric of innocence is resonant when we talk about child soldiers, but not when we talk about teen gang members in the United States. Yet in both settings, youth are caught in worlds that are made by adults, and forgiveness can offer both accountability and fresh starts.
与之比较美国是怎么惩罚少年犯的, 我们会严厉惩罚未成年人, 经常会把他们送上成人法庭, 甚至成人的监狱。 然而就像儿童兵一样, 在美国,青少年和孩子被卷入暴力活动, 是因为他们没有选择, 他们受到威胁, 或被成年人以金钱或意识形态引诱。 当我们谈论儿童兵时,关于他们的 天真无邪的辞藻总会引起共鸣, 但是当我们谈论美国 青少年帮派成员时却并非如此, 但在两种情况下,年轻人 都被困在成年人制造的世界, 而宽恕能让他们 担起责任,重新开始。
What if, instead, young people caught in criminal activity and violence could have chances to accept responsibility while learning and rebuilding their lives and their own communities? Legal frameworks inviting youth to describe their conduct could also involve community members to hear and forgive. Called "restorative justice," such efforts emphasize accountability and service rather than punishment. Many schools in the United States have turned to use restorative justice methods to resolve conflicts and to prevent them, and to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.
如果取而代之,因涉入 犯罪活动和暴力而被逮捕的年轻人 能有机会在学习与重建 自己的生活与社区的过程中 去承担责任,那会怎样? 能够让年轻人叙述自己所作所为 的法律框架, 也能让社区成员去倾听与原谅他们。 这被称为“修复式司法” (restorative justice), 这些努力更强调的是责任和服务, 而非责罚。 美国的许多学校已经 开始使用修复式司法的方式 来解决矛盾和防止冲突, 从而瓦解从学校到监狱的路径。
Some American high schools have replaced automatic suspensions with opportunities for victims to narrate their experiences and for offenders to take responsibility for their actions. As they describe their experiences and feelings about a theft or hateful graffiti or a verbal or physical assault, the victims and offenders often express strong emotions. And other members of the community take turns describing the impact of the offense on them. The leader is often a student peer, who is trained to deescalate the conflict and orchestrate a conversation about what the offender can do that would help the victim. Together, they come to an agreement about how to move forward, what the wrongdoer can do to repair the injury and what all could do to better avoid future conflicts.
有些美国高中已经 取消了自动停学措施, 而是给受害者机会讲述他们的遭遇, 也让加害者有机会为他们的行为负责。 当他们在描述自己有关盗窃、 仇恨涂鸦、言语或肢体攻击 的经历和感受时, 受害者和加害者经常会情绪激动。 接着,其他的社区成员会轮流 描述这些罪行对他们的影响。 谈话的领导者通常是同龄学生, 他们受过如何缓和冲突的训练, 并且能组织对话, 探讨加害者能做些什么 才能帮助受害者。 他们一同达成如何前进的共识, 做错事的人知道该 做些什么去弥补伤害, 而大家可以知道要怎样 才能避免未来的冲突。
Consider this example, recently in a publication. A young woman named Mercedes M. transferred, in California, from one high school to another after she was so repeatedly suspended in her old high school for getting into fights. And here in her new high school, two other young women accused her of lying and called her the b-word. A counselor came over and talked to her and earned enough trust that she acknowledged she had stolen the shoes of one of the other classmates. Turns out, the three of them had known each other for a long time, and they didn't know any other way to deal with each other other than to fight.
比如说最近发布的这个案例: 一名位于加州,名叫梅赛德斯 · M 的年轻女性, 由于在她原来的高中经常打架, 而被多次停学, 不得不转校。 在她就读的新高中里, 另外两名女生指责她撒谎, 并用脏话(“婊子”)骂她。 一位辅导员过来与她交谈, 并取得了她的信任, 她承认她偷了其中一位同学的鞋子。 真相是,她们三个相识已久, 但是除了打架外,她们不知道 如何与彼此相处。
The facilitator invited them to participate in a circle, a confidential conversation about what happened, and they agreed. And initially, each of them expressed a lot of emotion. And then Mercedes apologized. And she said she had stolen the shoes, but she did so because she wanted to sell them and take the money to pay for a drug test so that her mother could show she was clean and try to regain custody of two younger children who were then in state protective care.
于是协调人邀请她们参加一次交流会, 在保密环境下讨论所发生的事情。 而她们同意参加。 起初,她们每个人都情绪激动, 接着,梅赛德斯道歉了, 她说她确实偷了鞋子, 但她这样做是因为想卖掉它们, 然后把钱用来支付妈妈的药检费。 这样她的妈妈就能证明清白, 她就可能重新获得 两个年幼孩子的监护权, 他们此时正在接受 政府保护机构的看护。
The other girls heard this, saw Mercedes crying and they hugged her. They did not ask her to return what she'd stolen, but they did say they wanted a restart. They wanted a reason they could trust her. Later, Mercedes explained that she was sure she would have been suspended if they hadn't had this process. And her high school has reduced suspensions by more than half through the use of this kind of restorative justice method.
另外两个女孩听完这些, 看到梅赛德斯的眼泪, 她们拥抱了她。 她们没有叫她归还偷走的东西, 而是说她们想要重新开始。 她们想要重新信任她的理由。 后来,梅赛德斯解释说, 如果没有这次交流, 她一定又会被停学。 她的高中用这种修复式司法的方式 已经将停学人数减少了一半。
Restorative justice alternatives involve offenders and victims in communicating in ways that an adversarial and defensive process does not allow, and it's become the go-to method in places like the District of Columbia juvenile justice system and innovations like Los Angeles's Teen Court. If tuned to fairness, forgiveness methods like bankruptcy would be available not only for the for-profit college that goes belly-up but also for the students stuck with the loans; pardons would not be given to campaign contributors; and black men would no longer have 20 percent longer criminal sentences than do white men, due to how judges exercise discretion.
修复式司法的选项 让加害者和受害者 能有更多机会去沟通, 而这些沟通方式在 诉讼和辩护程序中是不允许的, 而它在诸如哥伦比亚特区 未成年人司法系统的地方, 以及类似洛杉矶青少年法庭的创新中 已然成了一个首选方法。 如果为了追求公平, 类似破产法的宽恕方法 不仅可以用于 濒临破产的盈利性大学, 也可以适用于那些 因贷款陷入困境的学生; 赦免令不应该只给予那些选举支持者, 黑人的刑期也不再会比白人长 20%, 而这些是由于法官 行使自由裁定权所致。
Forgiveness across the board is one way to avoid such biases. Sometimes, a society just needs a reset when it comes to punishment and debt. The Bible calls for periodic forgiveness of debts and freeing prisoners, and it recently helped to inspire a global movement. Jubilee 2000 joined Pope John Paul II and rock star Bono and over 60 nations in an effort to seek the cancellation and succeed in canceling the debt of developing countries, amounting to over 100 billion dollars of debt canceled, resulting in measurable reduction in poverty.
广泛的宽恕 是避免这类偏见的一种方式, 有时,当涉及到责罚和债务时, 社会需要的只是重启。 《圣经》呼吁要定期解除债务, 释放囚犯, 而它最近启发了一场全球性运动, 教皇约翰保罗二世与摇滚巨星波诺, 还有超过 60 个国家参与的 Jubilee 2000。 他们致力于呼吁取消 发展中国家的债务, 并取得了成功。 最终,总计超过 1000 亿美元 的债务被取消, 使世界上贫困人口显著减少。
In a similar spirit, there are people who are copying the techniques of commercial debt collectors who purchase debt for pennies on the dollar and then seek to enforce it. Late-night television host John Oliver partnered with a nonprofit group called RIP Medical Debt, and for only 60,000 dollars, they purchased 15 million dollars' worth of medical debt, and then they forgave it.
本着同样的理念, 有人借鉴了那些 商业买债公司的技巧, 这些公司花费几美分 就能购买 1 美元的债务, 然后通过追债获利。 深夜电视节目主持人 约翰 · 奥利弗(John Oliver) 与一家叫 RIP Medical Debt 的非盈利组织合作, 只花了六万美元, 他们就购买了价值 1500 万美元的医疗债务, 接着,他们将这些债务一笔勾销。
(Applause)
(掌声)
That allowed nearly 9,000 people to have a restart in their lives. This kind of precedent should trigger and encourage more such actions. It's time for a reset, given mass incarceration, medical and consumer debt and given indigent criminal defendants who are charged and put in debt because they're expected to pay for their own probation officers and their own electronic monitors.
那使得近 9000 人可以 重新开始他们的生活, 这种先例应能引起和鼓励 更多这样的行动。 是时候重启了, 想想大量的监禁, 医疗和消费债务, 还有那些因受到指控而深陷债务 的穷困被告们, 因为他们要支付自己的缓刑官, 以及自己的电子监控器。
Forgiving violations of law or promises to pay back loans does pose risks. Forgiveness may encourage more violations. Economists even have a name for it. They call it "moral hazard." Should there be amnesty for immigration violations? Should a president offer pardons to protect himself or to induce lawbreaking? These are tough questions for our time. But escalating resentments hold their own dangers. So does attributing blame to individuals for circumstances largely outside their own control.
宽恕违法行为 或者待偿的借贷, 确实有风险。 宽恕可能会鼓励更多的犯罪, 经济学家们甚至为此起了名, 他们称之为“道德风险 ”。 违反移民法规的人可以得到赦免吗? 总统应该提出特赦来保护他自己, 或是促使违法行为吗? 这些都是我们时代的难题, 但是不断升级的仇恨 也有其自身的危害, 把不在其自身掌控范围的责任 归咎于个人也同样有其危害。
To ask how law may forgive is not to deny the fact of wrongdoing. Rather, it's to widen the lens to enable glimpses of the larger patterns and to enable new choices that can go forward if we can wipe the slate clean.
寻求法律上的宽恕 并不是在否认犯罪事实, 而是在拓展视野, 能让我们窥见大局, 从而找到走向未来的新选择, 前提就是我们能既往不咎。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)