密歇根新闻广播 提高青少年入刑年龄

 

Starting in October 2021, 17-year-olds will no longer automatically be treated as adults in Michigan's criminal justice system.

Michigan will join the vast majority of other states that treat 17-year-olds as children. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the bills Thursday.

Democratic Senator Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) was a bill sponsor. She said the change will save taxpayers¹ money in the long run. And that money can go toward other things, like education.

That's the forefront of what we need to do is educate individuals, not lock them up and throw away the key, she told reporters.

Fellow bill sponsor, Republican Senator Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Township) has been working on these changes for years. He said the age of a juvenile² in other court systems, like Family Court, is 18.

Why are we calling them a child for child support services, but an adult for criminal purposes? Kinda doesn't make sense, he said.

One of the thousands of 17-year-olds who have been treated as adults in the criminal justice system is Briana Moore. She said in an interview that she is haunted by her experience in the adult system.

I had this sense of, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm a criminal now', Moore said in an interview.

Moore was convicted of misdemeanor assault after a mall fight. Like other 17-year-olds in Michigan's judicial³ system, she was automatically treated like an adult.

Moore's story is typical of these types of cases. She was not incarcerated⁴, but she was put on adult probation⁵ – without any support services – and she reoffended while on probation with a more serious drug crime.

Moore said the hardest part of improving her life has been dealing⁶ with the stigma⁷ of having an adult crime on her record. When she applied⁸ for jobs and internships, all people would see – and judge her by – was what was on that paper.

It's just been one thing after another, Moore said. Like you think what happens at 17-years-old which was almost, basically, 15 years ago, I'm having to continually explain the behaviors of a 17-year-old.

Moore believes that if she had been charged as a juvenile, things would have been different.

If Moore had been treated as a juvenile she would have gotten individualized treatment.

Here's what that might have looked like: An attorney referee⁹, who only handles juvenile cases, would have been in charge of her case. A juvenile court officer would have spoken to her and her family, maybe even her teachers. This would have given the officer and referee a better idea of what she needed. There would have been more oversight¹⁰. More check-ins with her officer and the referee. And she likely would have gotten counseling. Which Moore said between her alcohol problem and feelings of isolation¹¹, she needed.

Instead, in the adult system, Moore felt forgotten.

I don't know what would have happened, Moore said. And I think that's what bothers me the most because no one stopped and asked.

Gilda Jacobs is with the Michigan League for Public Policy. She says their research shows young people in the juvenile system are more likely to turn their lives around. But the adult system is different.

Once they get into an adult system initially¹², that can create barriers for the rest of their adult lives, Jacobs said. Whether it's education or housing, or employment, it has lifelong effects.

Jacobs said having a 17-year-old in the adult system can damage them physically¹³ and psychologically and puts a lot of strain on families.

So if we can avoid those kinds of costs – and I don't mean costs in terms of monetary¹⁴ costs – but in terms of the damage that this can do to a person and the families, then we should be able to do that, Jacobs said.

But it's those monetary costs that has held this change up for so long – and is the reason the laws won't go into effect for another two years. The big hang up has been, how the counties will pay for the influx¹⁵ of juvenile cases.

Meghann Keit, with the Michigan Association of Counties, said the courts and counties will need those two years to try to figure out how much money to budget every year for this change.

Keit says some of the things they need to figure out include: do counties need to hire more juvenile court officers? Do they need more staff for intake¹⁶? Prosecutors¹⁷' offices will have to figure out if they need more attorneys to handle the workload¹⁸.

There's so many unknowns still with this, so it's really hard to have good quality answers or hard numbers, Keit said. That's just been the difficulty with this policy.

The numbers are up in the air, but some studies predict that this could cost counties millions of dollars.

For Moore, the change in the state's policy means she can move on, and she doesn't have to worry about other 17-year-olds getting caught up in the system like she did.

I know at least, no other child is going to have to go through this the way that I did, she said. We won't have to ask those same questions – what if.

But in the two years before the law takes effect, thousands of 17-year-olds could be treated as adults. A 2017 study by the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency found that within a span of 10 years, more than 19,000 17-years-olds that committed crimes were treated as adults.

Lieutenant¹⁹ Governor Garlin Gilchrist said at a press conference that this is just part of the work the state is doing to improve its criminal justice system.

This legislation is long overdue²⁰, he said. These bills will strengthen the integrity of our criminal justice system. And they'll protect countless²¹ minors²² from the harms of being in the adult system.

Michigan has also made changes to its civil asset forfeiture²³ laws, and lawmakers are currently working on legislation to expand the state's expungement²⁴ laws.

1 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。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

4 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

5 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

10 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

11 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

12 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

13 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

14 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

15 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

16 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

17 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。

18 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

19 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

20 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

21 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

22 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 forfeiture   

n.（名誉等）丧失

参考例句：

• Both face maximum forfeitures of about $1.2 million.双方都面临最高120万美元左右的罚金。
• If he should break his day,what should I gain by the exaction of the forfeiture?如果他到期不还我从这罚金中又能得到什么好处？

24 expungement   

n.expunge（擦去，拭去）的变形

参考例句：