美国国家公共电台 NPR--A court in Kansas is reconsidering the death penalty

A court in Kansas is reconsidering the death penalty

Transcript¹

The ACLU plans to make a case against capital punishment in a Kansas hearing on Monday. Prosecutors³ there are seeking the death penalty for a man accused of a double murder.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The death penalty goes on trial today in Kansas. The ACLU argues that a correct reading of the Kansas Constitution would throw out capital punishment in the state. As Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports, the multiday hearing is challenging the death penalty in a new light.

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE⁴: In Wichita, a man stands accused of stalking and killing⁵ his former girlfriend and her new boyfriend. The accused is Black, and so is one of the victims. The prosecutor² wants the death penalty, but that case is on hold while the ACLU makes its case against capital punishment here.

HENDERSON HILL: We're bringing litigation under the Kansas Constitution, challenging many aspects of the administration of the death penalty.

MORRIS: Henderson Hill is senior counsel with the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project. He says the big issue here has to do with jury selection. In death penalty trials, prosecutors disqualify prospective⁶ jurors who say they could never impose capital punishment. He says Black people are far more likely than whites to feel that way.

HILL: And so essentially⁷, that standard weeds out Black citizens from service in death penalty cases.

MORRIS: Hill argues the death penalty process is racist⁸ throughout. He says it shortchanges people with mental disabilities and results in an alarming number of false convictions. None of these arguments are new. But Richard Dieter, who directs the Death Penalty Information Center, says they should get a fresh hearing in Kansas.

RICHARD DIETER: It's building on a prior ruling from the Kansas Supreme⁹ Court about how carefully court has to protect certain fundamental rights.

MORRIS: Dieter says that when the Kansas Supreme Court upheld a right to abortion¹⁰ three years ago, it set a high standard for the state to justify¹¹ laws that infringe¹² on fundamental rights. Support for capital punishment has dropped in recent decades to about 6 in 10 Americans in favor. But Dieter says the actual number of executions in death sentences has fallen much faster - from about a hundred executions and 300 death sentences a year in the late 1990s, down to 18 executions and about 20 death sentences last year.

DIETER: This is a phenomenal change, and it's carved across the country.

MORRIS: Not evenly. Twenty-four states still have the death penalty, but just two of them - Texas and Oklahoma - accounted for more than half of last year's executions. Kansas hasn't killed anyone since 1965, when it hanged two murderers in the case that inspired Truman Capote to write "In Cold Blood."

SEAN O'BRIEN: If you're looking for a program that can't withstand a cost-benefit analysis, this is it.

MORRIS: University of Missouri law professor Sean O'Brien says capital murder cases cost taxpayers¹³ at least 10 times more than other murder trials. Marc Bennett, the county district attorney in Wichita, has heard all this before, and all the arguments brought by the ACLU. He says the courts have, too, and that the death penalty is settled law. What's more, he says, the trial at hand hasn't even started, so there's nothing to critique.

MARC BENNETT: We won't know if we had a constitutionally sound jury selection or a constitutionally sound trial until we try it. And to have this hearing ahead of time is premature¹⁴.

MORRIS: No one involved in this pretrial hearing in Wichita expects it to trigger a ban on the death penalty in Kansas. Opponents hope it will keep pressure on the courts and the legislature and make justifying¹⁵ capital punishment just a little bit tougher.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

3 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

11 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

12 infringe   

v.违反，触犯，侵害

参考例句：

• The jury ruled that he had infringed no rules.陪审团裁决他没有违反任何规定。
• He occasionally infringe the law by parking near a junction.他因偶尔将车停放在交叉口附近而违反规定。

13 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

14 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

15 justifying   

证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• He admitted it without justifying it. 他不加辩解地承认这个想法。
• The fellow-travellers'service usually consisted of justifying all the tergiversations of Soviet intenal and foreign policy. 同路人的服务通常包括对苏联国内外政策中一切互相矛盾之处进行辩护。