VOA慢速英语: 奥巴马呼吁国家刑法司法体系改革

President Barack Obama is calling for major changesto the American criminal justice system. He says problems in the currentsystem are ones that the country can no longer ignore.

美国总统奥巴马呼吁改革本国的犯罪司法体系。他称现行的司法体系已不为本国接受。

"In far too many cases," Mr. Obama said, "the punishment simply doesn't fitthe crime." He spoke in Philadelphia this week at a meeting of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP. Theorganization works in support of racial equality throughout the United States.

U.S. President Barack Obama, the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, speaks during his visit to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution outside Oklahoma City, July 16, 2015.

他这周在费城与国家有色人种发展机构（简称NAACP）的会议上发言，到目前为止，许多对罪行的惩罚已经不符合。

The president said the US jails as many people as the top 35 Europeannations combined. Currently, 2.2 million people are in held in US prisons.African-Americans and Latinos are jailed for non-violent drug crimes at muchhigher rates than other groups of people.

总统表示，美国服刑人员数量在欧洲国家排名35，现在，美国监狱服刑人员有两千两百万名，非裔美国人和拉丁美洲人因非暴力毒品走私而排其它犯罪团伙之首。

"Our criminal justice system isn't as smart as it should be," Mr. Obama said. "It's not keeping us safe as it should be. It is not as fair as it should be. Mass incarceration makes our country worse off."

“我们的刑法体系缺乏灵活感，而灵活本该是一个刑法体系所具备的”，奥巴马称，“这没有给我们带来应有的安全，大范围的监禁使我们的国家更加糟糕”

In his speech, the president suggested either changing or removing laws thatrequire courts to give jail sentences as punishment for non-violent drugcrimes. He also said there should be more job training programs for peoplewhile they are in prison.

奥巴马在讲话中建议修改或移除法庭的判处非暴力毒品罪的有期徒刑。他还表示，应该为这些服刑人员提供更多的工作训练项目。

In addition, Mr. Obama announced that the Department of Justice wouldexamine the use of ‘solitary confinement’ in US prisons. This is a method ofpunishment where prisoners are placed alone in small rooms for long periods.Studies have shown that solitary confinement can have damagingpsychological effects on prisoners.

奥巴马补充道，司法部门应该检查美国“单独押禁”的作用。单独囚禁就是长时间将犯人单独关在一间牢房。调查显示，单独囚禁对犯人的心理会有消极影响。

The president urged Congress to approve a sentencing reform bill by the endof the year. He admitted that many people need to be in prison, among them"murderers, predators, rapists [and] gang leaders." However, he said that intoo many cases, those enforcing the law treat young blacks and Latino mendifferently than white Americans.

总统敦促国会今年年底通过一项判处罪行的法案。他承认有许多人需要被关进牢房，这些人是杀人者，抢劫者，强奸犯和犯罪团伙头目。但是在许多案例中，法律对待少年黑人和拉美人民不同于白人。

He said African Americans and Latinos received longer jail sentences thanwhites for similar crimes. "About one in every 35 African American men, andone out of every 88 Latino men, is [in prison] right now,"he added.

他声称非裔美国人和拉美人因为同一案件接受到的服刑惩罚比白人要长。他补充道，几乎每35个非裔人里和每88个拉美人里就有一个在监狱服刑。

His speech came a day after he commuted the jail time of 46 federal prisoners. Their sentences were reduced or cancelled. Each of the prisonerswas sent to jail for a non-violent drug crime. The president's action was part ofhis effort to reform the criminal justice system.

他为46名联邦犯人减刑后发表的这项演说。这46民联邦罪犯或被减刑或被取消刑罚，他们每个人都是非暴力毒品犯罪。总统的这项举动是他为改革刑法体系的努力的一部分。

The 46 prisoners were in jail for crimes involving the drug crack-cocaine. Theminimum time in prison for such crimes is much higher than for crimesrelated to regular cocaine. Most of the prisoners would already be free if theyhad been sent to prison today, the Obama administration said. Fourteen wereserving life prison sentences.

这46名犯罪人员因涉嫌制造毒品罪被刑拘。这样的罪行最少的服刑年限都比其它有关毒品犯罪的判处年限要长。奥巴马行政人员表示大多数服刑人员如果今天被关进监狱，他们已经做好了出狱的准备。有14名犯罪人员判处终身监禁。

"These men and women were not hard criminals," the president said. "Ibelieve, at its heart, America is a nation of second chances, and I believethese [people] deserve their second chance."

“些男人和女人的罪行都不严重”，总统表示，“我相信，在美利坚，从本质上是能有二次机会的国家，我相信这些人渴望再给他们提供一次机会。”

The administration said Mr. Obama would be willing to commute moresentences in the coming months if the conditions were right. "The statisticscannot be ignored. We cannot close our eyes anymore," he said.

行政人员称如果条件合适的话，奥巴马乐意在未来的几个月内为更多的人减刑。数据是不可忽视的。我们不能再紧闭双眼，无观事实了。

I’m Pete Musto.

This report was based on a story from VOANews.com. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

mass incarceration– n. large numbers of people put in prison

sentence – n. the punishment given by a court of law

minimum – adj. least or lowest amount

psychological – adj. of or relating to the mind

predator– n. someone who wants to use, control, or harm other people insome way

gang – n. a group of people who take part in illegal activity

commute– v. to reduce or cancel a form of punishment

crack-cocaine – n. a processed form of the drug cocaine