2006年VOA标准英语-Immigrants in US Justice System: Low Numbers, H

By Zulima Palacio
29 June 2006
 
Watch Immigration Report

Immigration agent   
  
As the U.S. Congress considers immigration legislation, the question of whether some illegal immigrants turn to crime once in the United States has drawn² a lot of attention. Despite the publicity³ over the issue, producer Zulima Palacio reports that the number of illegal immigrants in U.S. jails is low.

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There are about 120,000 non-citizen inmates⁴ in state, local and federal prisons in the United States. Many are simply waiting for deportation⁵; others are there for felonies that include murder, rape⁶, robbery and drug smuggling⁷. 

 
Allen Back 
  
However, the statistics can be misleading if they are not placed into context, according to Allen Back who oversees⁸ correction statistics at the Justice Department.

"About 20 percent of Federal inmates are not from the United States," he said. "That is about 35,000 inmates in the federal system. About half of them are there for immigration violations⁹, the other half for criminal violations and typically drug offenses¹¹."

Back says the available statistics do not differentiate¹² between legal and illegal immigrants and they do not compare rates of incarceration¹³ with the general population.

"I think it is important to understand that the immigrant population is not a growing population in the criminal justice system," he said. "The growth in our nations' prison and jails is not largely attributed to the growth in the immigrant population, the non-citizen's population."

 
Kathleen Newland 
  
The Migration¹ Policy Institute in Washington has completed a study about immigrants and the justice system, based on a micro sample from the 2000 National Census¹⁴.

"Contrary to a lot of erroneous public perceptions, immigrants actually have the lowest rate of incarceration for criminal offenses of any population group in the country,"  said director Kathleen Newland.

Newland says about 3.5 percent of the U.S. population is incarcerated¹⁵ at any given time. As a group, African Americans have the highest incarceration rate while among immigrants; the proportion is about 1.3 percent, considerably¹⁶ lower than any other group.

Kathleen Newland says those most likely to be incarcerated are males with low education, usually high school dropouts. That pattern does not hold for the immigrant population.

“Some of the lowest educated immigrant groups on average like Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, have an incarceration rate of about half of one percent," she said. "They are lower even than the general immigrant population."

However, Newland notes that this changes with the children of immigrants.

"While the foreign born have very low rates of incarceration compared to the U.S.-born people, the rate rises the longer someone has been in the United States and for the second generation, that is the children of immigrants, the rates of incarceration multiplied compared to their parents, the first generation of immigrants, in some cases by five, six, seven, eight times," she said.

Some anti-immigration groups insist that many immigrants already have criminal records when they come to the United States.

"We know very little about that in statistical¹⁷ terms," Newland said.  "If it is true, then there is a remarkable¹⁸ amount of reform among those who immigrate¹⁹ after they committed crimes in their home country because we see these very low rates of incarceration."

Experts estimate that about 12 million people are in the United States illegally. Immigration violations are part of civil law, not criminal law. Illegal immigrants may be detained prior to being deported²⁰, but that is not a criminal offense¹⁰.  Currently, a bill passed by the House of Representatives would criminalize illegal immigrants. If the Senate approves this version, the measure would turn those 12 million illegal immigrants into felons²¹. 

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

3 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

4 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

8 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

9 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

10 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

11 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

12 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

13 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

14 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

15 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

16 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

17 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

18 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

19 immigrate   

v.（从外国）移来，移居入境

参考例句：

• 10,000 people are expected to immigrate in the next two years.接下来的两年里预计有10，000人会移民至此。
• Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。

20 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 felons   

n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎

参考例句：

• Aren't those the seats they use for transporting convicted felons? 这些坐位不是他们用来押运重犯的吗？ 来自电影对白
• House Republicans talk of making felons out of the undocumented and those who help them. 众议院共和党议员正商议对未登记的非法移民以及包庇他们的人课以重罪。 来自互联网