VOA常速英语2019--弗格森事件五年后，各州开始控制对穷人的惩罚（在线收听）

Five Years After Ferguson, States Rein in Punishment of the Poor

For Ferguson’s once in battle, police force is back the basis.

对于弗格森地区来说，一旦发生战斗，警察力量就成为了基础。 

Police still stopped motorists but gone are the days when the city’s black residents believe Ferguson’s police officers saw them as potential sources of revenue.

警察仍然会拦下司机，但弗格森黑人居民认为警察把他们视为潜在收入来源的日子已经一去不复返了。

Instead of giving us petty traffic tickets and things like that, they trying to come up with programs there to help us instead of hinder us as a community.

他们没有给我们开交通罚单之类的东西，而是试图想出一些项目来帮助我们，而不是阻碍我们作为一个团体的发展。

In 2014, a white officer shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown, igniting weeks of protests,

二零一四年，一名白人警察开枪打死了黑人少年迈克尔·布朗，引发了数周的抗议活动， 

and putting the spotlight on how Ferguson and other cities punish poor communities through exorbitant penalties.

并将焦点放在弗格森和其他城市如何通过过分的惩罚惩处贫困社区。 

Wesley Bell, a former activist and Ferguson City Council member, when a historic election last year to become St. Louis county’s first African-American chief prosecutor.

韦斯利·贝尔，曾经是一名活动人士，也是弗格森市议会成员。去年，他在一次历史性的选举中当选为圣路易斯县首位非洲裔首席检察官。

When you look at the entire scope, Ferguson wasn’t even one of the worst offenders and Bell says out of tragedy has come an opportunity.

你纵观全局，弗格森甚至都不是最糟糕的罪犯之一，贝尔说从悲剧中走出来是一个机会。 

In Ferguson when you do something negative or positive, if it registers sometimes locally but oftentimes nationally,

在弗格森，当你做一些消极或积极的事情时，如果它显示是地区性的，但通常是全国性的， 

and so I think that’s an opportunity to implement changes in reform that can reverberate across the nation.

因此，我认为这是实施改革的一个机会，可以在全国产生影响。 

Across the nation, states have taken notice.

全国各州都注意到了这一点。 

Missouri capped the amount of revenue, cities can raise from traffic tickets a 20 percent.

密苏里州规定了税收上限，城市可以从交通罚单中收取百分之二十。 

Texas passed a law requiring judges to assess an offender’s ability to pay at sentencing.

德克萨斯州通过了一项法律，要求法官评估罪犯的量刑能力。 

We have seen reform.

我们看到了改革。 

It’s nowhere near enough but we’re making progress.

这远远不够，但我们正在取得进展。 

Among the areas of progress, courts have stopped jailing people for outstanding fines and fees at least directly.

在取得进展的领域中，法院已经停止关押那些直接因未付罚款和费用而入狱的人。 

And a half dozen states have stopped suspending drivers licenses for failing to pay fines.

六个州已经停止了因未缴纳罚款而吊销驾照的做法。 

In September nearly 1 million people in Texas will get their drivers licenses back.

今年九月，德克萨斯州将有近一百万人重获驾照。 

In Ferguson the criminal justice issues exposed by Brown’s death haven’t gone away.

在弗格森，布朗之死暴露的刑事司法问题并未消失。 

A recent report by the state’s attorney general says that since 2014 racial disparity in traffic stops have increased in Ferguson and across the state.

该州总检察长最近的一份报告称，自二零一四年以来，弗格森和全州的交通停车站的种族差异有所加剧。

There tonight and you’d see a line of mostly African-American people coming out of that Court even though they’re only 67% of the population, that’ll be like 98% of the people in court.

今晚在那里，你会看到一排大多数是非裔美国人走出法庭，尽管他们只占人口的百分之六十七，这相当于法庭上百分之九十八的人。

Ferguson residents said they’re determined to fix the problem even as the city struggles to comply with reforms required by the Justice Department.

弗格森居民表示，他们决心解决这个问题，尽管该市很难进行司法部要求的改革。