VOA慢速英语2016 加州将投票是否废除死刑

AS IT IS 2016-09-19 Californians to Vote on Ending Death Penalty 加州将投票是否废除死刑

Californians will vote in November on whether to stop using execution as a form of punishment, or reform the legal process leading up to the death sentence.

加州将在十一月进行投票，决定是否停用死刑的惩罚，或改革判决死刑的法律程序。

The state of California currently has about 750 people on death row. A lot of them were sentenced to die many years ago, but their cases are still being appealed in the courts.

加利福尼亚州的死囚牢房里目前约有750人。他们中有很多人多年前就被判处死刑，但是他们还在向法院提出上诉。

Death penalty process broken

死刑过程被分裂

Activists 2 on both sides of the issue agree that the current system needs to be fixed 3. Two competing ballot 4 measures attempt to do this.

再这个问题上的双方活动家都认为需要修改当前的系统。两种竞争投票的方式都是为了做到这一点。

Proposition 62 would permanently 5 abolish the death penalty in California. If it became law, death row prisoners would have their sentences changed to life in prison with no possibility of being released.

62号提案永久取消加利福尼亚州的死刑。如果这个法案成为法律，死刑犯的判决将发生改变，改为终身监禁，没有被释放的可能性。

Proposition 66 would try to speed up executions by reforming parts of the appeals process. The changes would set time limits on court appeals and make more lawyers available to dispute death penalty rulings.

66号提案则试图通过改革部分申诉程序以加速死刑的执行。这些改变是规定向法院上诉的时间限制，让更多的律师参与死刑的判决。

Paula Mitchell is with Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California. She says Californians have spent way too much on executions since the state brought back the death penalty in 1978.

保拉·米切尔是位于美国加利福尼亚州洛杉矶的洛约拉法学院的学生。她说，自从1978年国家恢复死刑后，加州在处决上花费太多了。

Billions spent since 1978

自1978年以来花费了数十亿美元

“California taxpayers 6 have spent $5 billion. The state has executed 13 people. Roughly 100 have died on death row before their appeals were finished or before the state could execute them.”

“加州纳税人花了五十亿美元。国家处决了13个人。大约有100人??在上诉完成前或州政府处决他们之前就已经死在囚牢房里。“

Actor and activist 1 Mike Farrell says the death penalty has killed innocent people. He claims it is used only against poor people and the poorly defended. “It entraps 8 and kills the innocent. There is simply, in my view, no justice and no justification 9 for it.”

演员兼社会活动家迈克·法雷尔说，死刑杀害了无辜的人。他声称这仅仅是适用于贫困人口和辩论不佳的人。 “它诱捕并杀死无辜者。简单的说，在我看来，死刑不代表没有正义，也没有理由存在。”

Former football player Kermit Alexander supports capital punishment. His mother, sister and two nephews were murdered in Los Angeles in 1984. But Alexander said he believes it should only be for justice, not revenge. The man found guilty of killing 10 his family is still on death row, waiting in jail after more than 30 years.

前足球运动员亚历山大·克米特支持死刑。1984年他的母亲、姐姐和两个侄子在洛杉矶被杀害了。但亚历山大表示，他认为死刑应该只是用于维护正义，而不是用来报复。因杀害他的家人而获罪的人仍然在死囚牢中，在监狱里等待了30多年。

In addition to California, 30 other American states have the death penalty. But it is rarely carried out in the United States.

除了加州之外，美国有30个州保留死刑。但是在美国很少执行死刑。

Sharp decline in U.S. executions

美国死刑的执行数急剧下降

The rate of U.S. executions has fallen sharply over the past seven years. In 2009, 52 executions were carried out, according to the Washington D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. In 2015, there were 28 executions. This year, there have been 15.

在过去七年里，美国死刑处决率已大幅下跌。华盛顿特区的死刑信息中心声称，2009年执行了52宗死刑。到2015年，只有28次处决。今年以来，已经有15次了。

Many government lawyers say the punishment should be kept for people who carry out the very worst crimes.

许多政府律师说，应该对犯下弥天大罪的犯人保留死刑。

Mike Hestrin is District Attorney for Riverside County, California. “I think it is a tool that we prosecutors 11 need, and that the justice system needs, in order to appropriately punish people that commit outrageous 12 and heinous 13 crimes.

迈克·何思成是加利福尼亚州河滨县的地方检查官。 “我认为这是我们检察官需要的工具，也是司法系统适当地惩罚那些犯下令人发指和滔天罪行的人的需要。

Hestrin added that executions are also a way for society to express anger at the crimes committed.

何思成补充说，死刑也是社会对犯罪的愤怒的一种表达方式。

Critics like Mike Farrell note that the United States is one of only a few democratic nations to keep the death penalty. “I think it corrupts 14 the society. And I think it demeans us as people.”

迈克·法雷尔等评论家注意到，美国是仅有的保留死刑的几个民主国家之一。 “我认为这会破坏社会。而且我认为它贬低我们人类。”

Californians will vote on the issue November 8.

加州将在11月8日为此进行投票。

Words in This Story

penalty – n. punishment for breaking a rule or law

death row – n. part of a prison where prisoners who will be killed as punishment for their crimes live until they are killed

abolish – v. officially end something

entrap 7 – v. to lure 15 someone into doing something by deception 16

revenge – n. the act of doing harm to someone in order to get even

heinous – adj. very bad or evil

demean – v. to lower in character, status or reputation