欧美人文风情第214篇:看美国,思索死刑废存议题

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The government could continue executions of the roughly 3,000 inmates¹ currently sentenced to death,  政府可以继续执行目前约三千名死刑犯的处决，

or retroactively sentence them to life without parole instead.  或溯及既往改判他们无期徒刑且不得假释。

From a financial standpoint, this would make a lot of sense.  就财政立场来看，这会实际许多。

Death row inmates require stricter security that costs more money.  死囚需要更严密的看守，那花费更多钱。

And since prisoners can remain on death row for decades, that adds up. States would also save money on prosecutions².  而因为囚犯可能在死牢待上好几十年，那费用就增加了。各州也会省下诉讼费。

Death penalty cases can cost up to 10 times more than others. So, it's cheaper. 死刑案可能比其他案件花上多达十倍的费用。所以，无期徒刑比较便宜。

But shouldn't serious criminals pay the ultimate price? Perhaps.  不过难道重刑犯不该付出最终代价吗？或许吧。

But since 1973, more than 150 people on death row were eventually found innocent.  但自1973年来，超过一百五十名被判死刑的人最终被证实是清白的。

Prisoners wait years, even decades, for execution, not knowing when or if it will come.  囚犯等待处决好几年，甚至好几十载，不知道那天何时到来，或那天是否会到。

And recently, changes in drugs used for lethal³ injection have resulted in gruesomely botched executions.  近来，注射死刑用药的改变导致极拙劣的死刑执行案件。

Some prisoners have chosen not to appeal their cases to shorten the time they have to spend on death row. 有些犯人选择不上诉自己的案子以缩短他们等待处决的时间。

But doesn't the death penalty deter⁴ crime?  但死刑不是会吓阻犯罪吗？

Actually, murder rates in states without the death penalty have remained lower than states which have it.  事实上，没有死刑各州内的谋杀率比有死刑的州来得低。

The death penalty is also disproportionately applied⁵ to minority offenders⁶.  死刑也特别会被判在少数族裔犯罪者身上。

So, no death penalty might mean a little more equality in the justice system,  因此，废除死刑可能代表司法系统能有多一点平等、

a lot of money saved, and more time for prosecutors⁷ to try other cases. 省下更多金钱，而检察官能有更多时间审理其他案件。

 

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