法律类文章精选：LOCK 'EM UP!

2 LOCK 'EM UP!

　　Minority youths are more likely to face trial as adults

　　A WHITE KID SELLS A BAG OF COCAINE¹ at his suburban² high school. A Latino kid does the same in his inner-city neighborhood. Both get caught. Both are first-time offenders⁴. The white kid walks into juvenile⁵ court with his parents, his priest, a good lawyer-and medical coverage⁶. The Latino kid walks into court with his mom, no legal resources and no insurance. The judge lets the white kid go with his family; he's placed in a private treatment program. The minority kid has no such option. He's detained.

　　There, in a nutshell, is what happens more and more often in the juvenile-court system. Minority youths arrested on violent felony charges in California are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults, according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute, a research center in San Francisco. Once they are in adult courts, young black offenders are 18 times more likely to be jailed-and Hispanics seven times more likely-than are young white offenders. "Discrimination against kids of color accumulates at every stage of the justice system and skyrockets when juveniles⁷ are, tried as adults," says Dan Macallair, a co-author of the new study. "California has a double standard: throw kids of color behind bars, but .rehabilitate⁸ white kids who commit comparable crimes."

　　Even as juvenile crime has declined from its peak in the early 1990s, headline grabbing violence by minors⁹ has intensified¹⁰ a get-tough attitude. Over the past six years, 43 states have passed laws that make it easier to try juveniles as adults. In Texas and Connecticut in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available, all the juveniles in jails were minorities. Vincent Schiraldi, the Justice Policy Institute's director, concedes that "some kids need to be tried as adults. But most can be rehabilitated¹¹."

　　Instead, adult prisons tend to brutalize juveniles. They are eight times more likely to commit suicide and five times more likely to be sexually abused than offenders held in juvenile detention¹². "Once they get out, they tend to commit more crimes and more violent crimes," says Jenni Gainsborough, a spokeswoman for the Sentencing Project, a reform group in Washington. The system, in essence, is training career criminals. And it's doing its worst work among minorities.

　　~~~~~~~~

　　注(1)本文选自By Anamaria Wilson Time; 02/14/2000, Vol. 155 Issue 6, p68, 1/3p

　　注(2)本文习题命题模仿对象1997年真题text 5(其中因1997年真题text 5只有4个题目，所以本文第4题模仿参照对象为1999年 Text 4的第4题。)

　　1.From the first paragraph we learn that _________.

　　[A]the white kid is more lucky than the minority kid

　　[B]the white kid has got a lot of help than the minority kid

　　[C]the white kid and minority kid has been treated differently

　　[D]the minority kid should be set free at once.

　　2.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

　　[A]Kids shouldn’t be tried as adults.

　　[B] Discrimination exists in the justice system.

　　[C]Minority kids are likely to commit crimes.

　　[D] States shouldn’t pass the laws.

　　3.The word “skyrocket” (Line 13, Paragraph 2) means ________.

　　[A]rising sharply

　　[B]widening suddenly

　　[C]spreading widely

　　[D]expanding quickly

　　4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ________.

　　[A] something seems to be wrong with the justice system

　　[B]adult prisons have bad influence on the juveniles

　　[C] juveniles in adult prison are ill-treated

　　[D]the career criminals are trained by the system

　　5.The passage shows that the author is _________ the present situation.

　　[A] amazed at

　　[B]puzzled by

　　[C]disappointed at

　　[D] critical of

　　答案：CBAAD

　　篇章剖析

　　本文的结构形式为提出问题----分析问题。在第一段首先提出问题,以一个案例为切入点，对比白人少年与有色人种少年受到的不同待遇。第二段和第三段用事实进一步说明司法机关对有色人种的青少年的歧视以及他们受到的不公正待遇。第四段阐述了司法机关的这一做法造成的不良影响。

　　词汇注释

　　offender³ [E5fendE(r)] n.罪犯, 冒犯者

　　coverage [5kQvErIdV]n.保险项目；保险范围

　　option [5RpF(E)n]n.选择;供选择的事物

　　detain [dI5teIn]v.拘留,

　　in a nutshell [5nQtFel]简括地,简言之；简要地说

　　felony [5felEnI]n.[律]重罪

　　rehabilitate [ri:hE5bIlIteIt]v. 使(身体)康复, 使复职, 使恢复名誉, 使复原

　　get-tough [5^et 5tQf]adj.强硬的

　　concede[kEn5si:d]v.勉强, 承认

　　brutalize[5bru:tElaIz]v.残酷地对待

　　detention[dI5tenF(E)n]n.拘留, 禁闭

　　难句突破

　　1.Minority youths arrested on violent felony charges in California are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults, according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute, a research center in San Francisco.

　　主体句式：Minority youths are more than …

　　结构分析：这是一个比较长的简单句。“more than twice as likely as their white counterparts”是一种表颈妒?谋泶锓绞剑弧皌o be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults”不定式短语来修饰white counterparts; “according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute”是现在分词做伴随状语；“a research center in San Francisco”是“the Justice Policy Institute”的同位语。

　　句子译文：据旧金山一家研究中心—司法政策研究—上周发表的一项研究结果，在加州因暴力重罪嫌疑被捕进而移交到少年法庭系统作为成人被审判的少数民族青少年的数量可能是白人少年的两倍。

　　题目分析

　　1.答案为C，属推理判断题。作者在第一段中进行对比，目的在于引出同一性质案例因为对象不同，从而处理结果也不同这一论点。

　　2.答案为B，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是：“Discrimination against kids of color accumulates at every stage of the justice system and skyrockets when juveniles are, tried as adults”。其它选项意思与原文不符。

　　3.答案为A ，属猜词题。从单词所在的句子语境中，我们可以判断skyrocket与accumulate的意思相近，并且程度更强。了解到这一点就不难作出选择。

　　4.答案为A，属推理判断题。原文相关信息是“The system, in essence, is training career criminals. And it's doing its worst work among minorities”。

　　5.答案为D，属情感态度题。作者通篇都在阐述司法机关对有色人种青少年的不公正待遇。

　　参考译文

　　把他们关起来！

　　一白人少年在他就读的郊区中学贩卖一袋可卡因。一拉丁美洲少年在其居住的市内社区也做同样的事情。两人都被抓。两人都是初犯。白人少年在其父母、牧师、知名律师陪伴下走进少年法庭—他有医疗保险；而那个拉丁美洲少年却只在他母亲陪伴下来到法庭，没有任何法律援助，也没有什么保险。法官让白人少年随家人回家，判他接受私下处理计划监管。而那位少数民族少年则别无选择。他被拘留了。

　　简而言之，这样的事情在少年法庭上越来越常见。据旧金山一家研究中心—司法政策研究—上周发表的一项研究结果，在加州因暴力重罪嫌疑被捕进而移交到少年法庭系统作为成人被审判的少数民族青少年的数量可能是白人少年的两倍。一旦被移交成人法庭，那些青少年黑人犯法者被送进监狱的可能性是白人的十八倍，美籍西班牙人是白人的八倍。 “司法系统对有色人种青少年的歧视每升一级都加一次码，而这些年轻人一旦以成人的身份被审判的话，这种歧视便被极度升化，达到无以复加的地步。” 这项研究的合作者丹•麦卡莱尔(Dan Macallair)说，“加利福尼亚历来奉行双重标准：把犯罪的有色人种青少年投进监狱，但对犯有同等罪行的白人少年却实行教育感化。”

　　正当青少年犯罪率从二十世纪九十年代初期的高峰开始下降的时候，常常成为报刊头条新闻的少数民族未成年人暴力犯罪强化了公众的强硬态度。在过去六年中，四十三个州通过的法律使青少年以成人的身份受审变得更加易如反掌。1996年，美国德克萨斯州和康涅狄格州(这两个州是唯一能收集到最近一年青少年犯罪记录的州)的资料表明，在监狱服刑的所有青少年都是有色人种。司法政策研究所所长文森特•希拉迪(Vincent Schiraldi)承认，“有些青少年需要作为成人进行审判，但是他们中大多数人是可以教育感化的。”

　　成人监狱经常虐待这些青少年。这些人自杀的可能性是少管所的罪犯的八倍，遭到性虐待的可能性是他们的五倍。华盛顿的一个改革团体—“审判项目组织”的女发言人Jenni Gainsborough认为，“这些人一旦被释放，他们往往会疯狂作案，实施更多的暴力犯罪。” 这种体系实质上是在培养职业罪犯；对有色人种而言，它起的作用更糟。