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密歇根新闻广播 让终身监禁者重生

时间:2021-03-25 07:15来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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More than 40% of the prisoners at Lakeland Correctional Facility are lifers. But not every life sentence is the same.

We've reported a lot on the lifers who were sentenced for crimes they committed before they were 18. Some of those lifers have a new sense of hope after the Supreme1 Court decided2 that sentencing juveniles3 to life without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional.

But there's another group of people convicted as juveniles who aren't affected4 by that decision.

These are people who got a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Their situation is, in some ways, more complicated.

The Michigan Department of Corrections says there are more than 800 parolable lifers in Michigan prisons who are eligible5 for parole consideration. The organization Safe & Just Michigan estimates more than 60 of them were sentenced as juveniles.

More from Life on the Inside

One of those people is Raymond Richardson. He's an inmate6 at Lakeland. He was sentenced for a crime he committed when he was 15 years old - in 1984.

They say I got a possible chance for parole, but at what point do I get my possible chance? he says. And I don't see where I'm ever getting out. The parole board people: ‘We don't want to talk to you.' Why?

As it stands now, prisoners with a parolable life sentence become eligible for parole after 15 years. The parole board will hold a hearing. Usually, that doesn't end in parole. After that, the board considers the case every five years. But they don't have to hold a hearing, or even talk to the prisoner. They can just review the file.

Richardson's file has some bad stuff in it. He was convicted for a robbery in which he held people hostage, sexually assaulted a woman, and shot someone, according to a Detroit Free Press article from the time.

But he was 15 then. He's spent more than twice as long as that in prison.

Richardson says he has a job in prison. He takes self-improvement classes. He has his GED.

I'm doing everything that I can possibly do to show that I've grown and matured and taken steps to rehabilitate7 myself, he says. And I'm constantly being told, ‘No. Five years. We'll see you in five years.'

The standard file review, he says, doesn't give him a chance to show who he really is today. It doesn't give him a meaningful chance at parole, as he puts it.

Back in the day, when a lot of these sentences were being imposed, you know there was an expectation on the part of judges that people might not get out in ten, but they'd get out in 12 or 14 years, says Barbara Levine who was the head of an organization now known as Safe & Just Michigan.

She's written reports on the issue of parolable lifers. The most recent was in 2014.

For the report, she surveyed judges. She found two-thirds of them didn't agree with the idea that a life with parole meant that a prisoner would stay their whole life in prison.

But a lot of prosecutors9 see it that way.

I mean, it's always been the practice and the law that a person who receives a life sentence is eligible for parole consideration, says Bill Vailliencourt, the Livingston County prosecutor8, who also serves as president of the Prosecuting10 Attorneys Association of Michigan. But I think everyone has always understood that that means it's up to the parole board to make those determinations.

Vailliencourt says many prosecutors take the view that life means life in these cases.

In a statement, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office mostly sided with that view.

Generally we have taken the position that a defendant11 sentenced to life should only be released for extra-ordinary behavior on his part, or other factors such as the defendant was very young when he/she committed the offense12, the office said in a statement to Michigan Radio.

Prosecutors can't stop a prisoner from being paroled, but they can file an objection with the parole board.

Judges do have the power to veto the parole of a prisoner with a life sentence, but in 2016, a new law limited that power. The new law says only the judge who heard the original case can stop the parole. Any successor judge who takes over after that judge retires or dies can't stop the parole.

But the people with the most power to parole these lifers are parole board members.

Levine says in the past, the parole board members were very reluctant to release any lifers.

People should not assume that lifers are somehow more culpable13, that their offenses14 are any worse, she says. And they shouldn't assume from all the time that they've served that they're somehow at fault - that they must have been screwing up, otherwise the board would have released them.

Levine says her research shows lifers who do get paroled are much less likely to re-offend. Many of them are much older when they get out, and not likely to return to crime. And, she notes, as they grow older in prison, their incarceration15 costs the state more.

Safe & Just Michigan has been tracking the number of lifers who are granted parole each year. In recent years, those numbers have been going up. More parolable lifers are getting out. But reformers such as Levine still want to see more changes.

In 2014, legislation was introduced to change parole reviews so that they occur every two years, instead of five. The legislation also required that at least one parole board member speak to the prisoner, either in a video chat or a personal meeting.

Richardson says his next parole board review is in 2021.

And he says he dreams about getting out. He dreams about getting his chance to prove he can be a productive member of society, and live a normal life.

Man, I never even drove a car yet, he says. That's one of my biggest dreams, of just going and getting my license16 and learning to drive. 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 supreme PHqzc     
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。
2 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 juveniles 257c9101f917ec8748aa5fc520c6a9e3     
n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 );扮演少年角色的演员;未成年人
参考例句:
  • Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗? 来自生活英语口语25天快训
  • Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗? 来自互联网
4 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
5 eligible Cq6xL     
adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的
参考例句:
  • He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
  • Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。
6 inmate l4cyN     
n.被收容者;(房屋等的)居住人;住院人
参考例句:
  • I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
  • The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。
7 rehabilitate 2B4zy     
vt.改造(罪犯),修复;vi.复兴,(罪犯)经受改造
参考例句:
  • There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
  • He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。
8 prosecutor 6RXx1     
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。
9 prosecutors a638e6811c029cb82f180298861e21e9     
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。
10 prosecuting 3d2c14252239cad225a3c016e56a6675     
检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 ); 对某人提起公诉; 继续从事(某事物); 担任控方律师
参考例句:
  • The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
  • Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。
11 defendant mYdzW     
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的
参考例句:
  • The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
  • The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。
12 offense HIvxd     
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。
13 culpable CnXzn     
adj.有罪的,该受谴责的
参考例句:
  • The judge found the man culpable.法官认为那个人有罪。
  • Their decision to do nothing makes them culpable.他们不采取任何行动的决定使他们难辞其咎。
14 offenses 4bfaaba4d38a633561a0153eeaf73f91     
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
15 incarceration 2124a73d7762f1d5ab9ecba1514624b1     
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
16 license B9TzU     
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许
参考例句:
  • The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
  • The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。
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