Alice Goffman: How we're priming some kids for college — and others for prison

翻译人员: Yu Liu 校对人员: Rale Don

On the path that American children travel to adulthood,

美国的孩子们长大成人的道路上，

two institutions oversee the journey.

有两个机构在这段旅程上至关重要。

The first is the one we hear a lot about: college.

第一个是大家经常听到的：大学。

Some of you may remember the excitement that you felt

某些人可能还记得

when you first set off for college.

当你第一次进入大学时的兴奋的感觉

Some of you may be in college right now

你们中的某些可能现在就在大学

and you're feeling this excitement at this very moment.

并且正在享受那份兴奋

College has some shortcomings.

大学有很多弊端

It's expensive; it leaves young people in debt.

学费昂贵，所以年轻人负债累累

But all in all, it's a pretty good path.

但总而言之，这是一条康庄大道

Young people emerge from college with pride and with great friends

年轻人从校园毕业，带着自豪与友情

and with a lot of knowledge about the world.

和许多关于这个世界的知识

And perhaps most importantly,

或许更重要的是

a better chance in the labor market than they had before they got there.

上大学使得他们能有更好的就业机会

Today I want to talk about the second institution

今天我想讨论的是第二个机构

overseeing the journey from childhood to adulthood in the United States.

在美国，贯穿了从童年到成年的整个人生经历

And that institution is prison.

那个机构便是监狱

Young people on this journey are meeting with probation officers

在这段旅程上,相伴着年轻人的

instead of with teachers.

是感化官而不是教师

They're going to court dates instead of to class.

去法庭受审而不是去教室上课

Their junior year abroad is instead a trip to a state correctional facility.

他们的大三留学之旅是去州立管教所

And they're emerging from their 20s

当他们20多岁时

not with degrees in business and English,

没有商科的或英语的学位

but with criminal records.

有的只是犯罪记录

This institution is also costing us a lot,

这个机构同样花费甚多

about 40,000 dollars a year

在新泽西，送一个年轻人到监狱的花费

to send a young person to prison in New Jersey.

一年要大约4万美元

But here, taxpayers are footing the bill

但是这是纳税人买的单

and what kids are getting is a cold prison cell

而孩子们得到的只是一个冰冷的牢房单间

and a permanent mark against them when they come home

和一个永久的印记，阻碍着他们回归家庭

and apply for work.

或者寻找工作

There are more and more kids on this journey to adulthood

越来越多的孩子在这条路上长大成人

than ever before in the United States and that's because in the past 40 years,

尤其在美国，这是因为在过去的四十年里

our incarceration rate has grown by 700 percent.

我们服刑率已经增长了700%

I have one slide for this talk.

我制作了一张幻灯片

Here it is.

看这儿

Here's our incarceration rate,

这是我们的服刑率

about 716 people per 100,000 in the population.

每十万人就有716人服刑

Here's the OECD countries.

这是其他OECD（经合组织）成员国家的情况

What's more, it's poor kids that we're sending to prison,

更为重要的是，被送入监狱的孩子往往 家境贫寒

too many drawn from African-American and Latino communities

他们大多来自非裔美国人和拉丁裔社区

so that prison now stands firmly between the young people trying to make it

以至于监狱成为了想要成功的年轻人

and the fulfillment of the American Dream.

实现美国梦的障碍

The problem's actually a bit worse than this

问题是事实更为糟糕

'cause we're not just sending poor kids to prison,

因为我们不只是把贫困的孩子送入监狱

we're saddling poor kids with court fees,

我们还给他们加上了许多沉重的枷锁，比如诉讼费的负担

with probation and parole restrictions,

比如感化和假释的限制

with low-level warrants,

比如轻微的犯罪通缉

we're asking them to live in halfway houses and on house arrest,

我们让他们待在过渡教习所或者软禁在家

and we're asking them to negotiate a police force

我们让他们和警察交涉

that is entering poor communities of color,

而当这些警察要进入有色人种的社区

not for the purposes of promoting public safety,

不是为了改善公共安全

but to make arrest counts, to line city coffers.

而是为了政绩去保证逮捕数量

This is the hidden underside to our historic experiment in punishment:

这就是关于我们印象中的惩戒措施的 不为人知的一面

young people worried that at any moment, they will be stopped, searched and seized.

年轻人总是担心随时会被截停、搜身和逮捕

Not just in the streets, but in their homes,

无论是在街上还是在家

at school and at work.

在学校还是在工作

I got interested in this other path to adulthood

大约2000年年初的时候

when I was myself a college student

当时我自己在宾夕法尼亚大学上学

attending the University of Pennsylvania

我对这种别样的人生成长轨迹

in the early 2000s.

产生了兴趣

Penn sits within a historic African-American neighborhood.

大学坐落在一个历史悠久的非裔社区旁

So you've got these two parallel journeys going on simultaneously:

所以在这里你能同时看到两条平行的人生轨迹

the kids attending this elite, private university,

一边是在这所精英的私立大学上学的孩子

and the kids from the adjacent neighborhood,

另外一边是在附近社区的孩子

some of whom are making it to college,

他们中有一些也在努力去读大学

and many of whom are being shipped to prison.

但是他们中的大多数却身陷囹圄

In my sophomore year, I started tutoring a young woman who was in high school

在我大二的时候，我开始辅导一位高中的年轻姑娘

who lived about 10 minutes away from the university.

她住在离大学10分钟路程的地方

Soon, her cousin came home from a juvenile detention center.

不久，她的表弟（堂弟）从少年拘留所回到家

He was 15, a freshman in high school.

他当时15岁，上高中一年级

I began to get to know him and his friends and family,

我开始了解他以及他的朋友们和家庭

and I asked him what he thought about me writing about his life

我问他能否在我的毕业论文中

for my senior thesis in college.

讲述他的生活

This senior thesis became a dissertation at Princeton

这篇论文也成为了我在普林斯顿的博士论文

and now a book.

现在则集结成书

By the end of my sophomore year,

在我大学二年级结束的时候

I moved into the neighborhood and I spent the next six years

我搬进了这个社区，而且花了6年时间

trying to understand what young people were facing as they came of age.

去尝试理解年轻人在成长中要面对的是什么

The first week I spent in this neighborhood,

在这个社区中生活的第一周

I saw two boys, five and seven years old,

我看到了两个男孩，一个5岁一个7岁

play this game of chase,

在玩一个追逐游戏

where the older boy ran after the other boy.

大一点的男孩在追另外一个

He played the cop.

他演“警察”

When the cop caught up to the younger boy,

当“警察”抓到了小一点的男孩

he pushed him down,

他把小男孩按到身下

handcuffed him with imaginary handcuffs,

假装用手铐把他铐起来

took a quarter out of the other child's pocket,

然后从小男孩的口袋里掏出一个25分硬币

saying, "I'm seizing that."

说到：“这个归我了”

He asked the child if he was carrying any drugs

他问他是否带了毒品

or if he had a warrant.

是否在被通缉

Many times, I saw this game repeated,

我经常看到孩子们玩儿这个游戏

sometimes children would simply give up running,

有时候，孩子们只是简单的放弃逃跑

and stick their bodies flat against the ground

平躺在地上

with their hands above their heads, or flat up against a wall.

双手高举过头顶，或是将双手靠在墙上

Children would yell at each other,

孩子们彼此大叫

"I'm going to lock you up,

“我要把你锁起来，

I'm going to lock you up and you're never coming home!"

我要把你锁起来让你再也回不了家！“

Once I saw a six-year-old child pull another child's pants down

有一次我看到一个6岁小孩把 另外一个小孩的裤子扒掉

and try to do a cavity search.

然后去试着去做肛门搜查

In the first 18 months that I lived in this neighborhood,

在住在这个社区的最初的18个月

I wrote down every time I saw any contact between police

我记下了所有我看到的

and people that were my neighbors.

我的邻居与警察的接触

So in the first 18 months,

所以在这最初的18个月

I watched the police stop pedestrians or people in cars,

我看到了警察截停行人或者在车里的人

search people, run people's names,

搜查他们，询问他们的姓名

chase people through the streets,

在街上追逐他们

pull people in for questioning,

抓他们去问话

or make an arrest every single day, with five exceptions.

每天都要抓一个人，只有5天例外

Fifty-two times, I watched the police break down doors,

我看到警察破门而入多达52次

chase people through houses

穿过很多屋子去追捕

or make an arrest of someone in their home.

或者在某人家中将其逮捕

Fourteen times in this first year and a half,

我看到警察在逮捕这些年轻人之后

I watched the police punch, choke, kick, stomp on or beat young men

又用极端暴力对待他们

after they had caught them.

在这一年半时间中我一共看到14次

Bit by bit, I got to know two brothers,

逐渐的，我和两兄弟熟悉起来

Chuck and Tim.

查克和提姆

Chuck was 18 when we met, a senior in high school.

我们相识时查克18岁，是一个高四学生

He was playing on the basketball team and making C's and B's.

他在一个篮球队打球，大部分成绩是C和B

His younger brother, Tim, was 10.

他的小弟弟，提姆，当时10岁

And Tim loved Chuck; he followed him around a lot,

提姆很喜欢查克，经常跟着他屁股后面转

looked to Chuck to be a mentor.

把查克当成他的导师

They lived with their mom and grandfather

他们和母亲与爷爷（姥爷）住在一起

in a two-story row home with a front lawn and a back porch.

他们住在一个两层楼的联排房屋里，前面有草坪，后面有走廊

Their mom was struggling with addiction all while the boys were growing up.

他们成长过程中，他们的母亲一直都为毒瘾所扰

She never really was able to hold down a job for very long.

她从来没能有个长期的稳定工作

It was their grandfather's pension that supported the family,

是他们祖父（外祖父）的退休金在支撑这个家

not really enough to pay for food and clothes

其实这不足以支付孩子们的食品和衣服

and school supplies for growing boys.

还有学习开销

The family was really struggling.

真的是在贫困线上挣扎

So when we met, Chuck was a senior in high school.

当我们认识的时候，查克正在上高中最后一年

He had just turned 18.

他刚刚满18岁

That winter, a kid in the schoolyard

那个冬天，一个操场上的孩子

called Chuck's mom a crack whore.

叫查克的妈妈”嗑药的婊子“

Chuck pushed the kid's face into the snow

查克把那孩子的脸按到积雪里

and the school cops charged him with aggravated assault.

然后校警以严重袭击的罪名将他逮捕

The other kid was fine the next day,

然而骂人的孩子第二天没什么事

I think it was his pride that was injured more than anything.

我想主要是他的自尊心受到了伤害

But anyway, since Chuck was 18,

但是无论如何，查克已经年满18岁

this agg. assault case sent him to adult county jail

他因为袭击案被送到成人监狱

on State Road in northeast Philadelphia,

位于费城东北部的州立公路旁

where he sat, unable to pay the bail -- he couldn't afford it --

他因为无力支付保释金被关在那---他根本就付不起

while the trial dates dragged on and on and on

当时审判日被一拖再拖

through almost his entire senior year.

几乎占了他高中最后的一整年

Finally, near the end of this season,

最后，在接近这个季节末的时候

the judge on this assault case threw out most of the charges

法官驳回了大部分关于这起袭击案的指控

and Chuck came home

查克回家了

with only a few hundred dollars' worth of court fees hanging over his head.

但是他也欠下了数百美元的诉讼费

Tim was pretty happy that day.

提姆那天很开心

The next fall, Chuck tried to re-enroll as a senior,

第二年秋天，查克试着去重新注册高中四年级

but the school secretary told him that

但是学校秘书告诉他

he was then 19 and too old to be readmitted.

他已经19岁了，已经超龄而没有资格复读了

Then the judge on his assault case issued him a warrant for his arrest

紧接着，负责他袭击案的法官又签署了一份他的通缉

because he couldn't pay the 225 dollars in court fees

因为他没有付225美元的诉讼费

that came due a few weeks after the case ended.

在他案子结束后的几个星期后发出

Then he was a high school dropout living on the run.

所以他从高中辍学在逃去躲避追捕

Tim's first arrest came later that year

提姆第一次被捕是在那一年的晚些时候

after he turned 11.

那时他刚满11岁

Chuck had managed to get his warrant lifted

那时查克的通缉刚被取消

and he was on a payment plan for the court fees

然后他要以分期付款的方式支付他的诉讼费

and he was driving Tim to school in his girlfriend's car.

当时他用他女友的车载提姆到学校

So a cop pulls them over, runs the car,

一个警察把他们截停，调查车的来源

and the car comes up as stolen in California.

发现车是在加州被盗的

Chuck had no idea where in the history of this car it had been stolen.

查克根本就不知道这辆车其实是赃物

His girlfriend's uncle bought it from a used car auction

是他女友的叔叔在一个费城东北的

in northeast Philly.

二手车拍卖会上买的

Chuck and Tim had never been outside of the tri-state,

查克和提姆从来没有离开过附近超过三个州

let alone to California.

更别提加州了

But anyway, the cops down at the precinct

但是尽管如此，当地辖区的警察

charged Chuck with receiving stolen property.

还是以窝赃的罪名起诉了查克

And then a juvenile judge, a few days later,

几天后，一个青少年犯罪法官

charged Tim, age 11,

起诉了11岁的提姆

with accessory to receiving a stolen property

作为窝赃的从犯

and then he was placed on three years of probation.

然后他被判三年的缓刑

With this probation sentence hanging over his head,

因为背负缓刑的罪名

Chuck sat his little brother down

查克要他弟弟坐下来

and began teaching him how to run from the police.

开始教他怎么摆脱警察

They would sit side by side on their back porch

他们会肩并肩坐在他们房后的走廊

looking out into the shared alleyway

望着公共小巷的深处

and Chuck would coach Tim how to spot undercover cars,

查克会叫提姆怎样辩认出伪装的警车

how to negotiate a late-night police raid, how and where to hide.

怎样和深夜巡逻的警察交涉，还有哪里能躲避

I want you to imagine for a second

我想让你们想象一下

what Chuck and Tim's lives would be like

如果查克和提姆住在

if they were living in a neighborhood where kids were going to college,

邻居孩子都能去大学读书，而不是去监狱的社区里

not prison.

就像我长大的社区

A neighborhood like the one I got to grow up in.

他们的生活会是怎样？

Okay, you might say.

好的，你也许会说

But Chuck and Tim, kids like them, they're committing crimes!

但是像查克和提姆这样的孩子，他们确实犯罪了！

Don't they deserve to be in prison?

难道他们不该去蹲监狱吗？

Don't they deserve to be living in fear of arrest?

难道他们不该生活在被捕的恐惧之中吗？

Well, my answer would be no.

我的答案是不该

They don't.

他们不应该被这样对待

And certainly not for the same things that other young people

他们不应该因为做了和其他年轻人一样的事而被这样对待

with more privilege are doing with impunity.

比他们条件更好的年轻人做同样的事却免受惩罚

If Chuck had gone to my high school,

如果查克去了我的高中

that schoolyard fight would have ended there,

那次操场打架也只会作为一次操场打架

as a schoolyard fight.

而止于学校内部

It never would have become an aggravated assault case.

根本就不会成为一起严重袭击案件

Not a single kid that I went to college with

从来就没有任何一位我的大学同学

has a criminal record right now.

现在有犯罪记录

Not a single one.

从来没有一个

But can you imagine how many might have if the police had stopped those kids

但是你能想象如果警察截停这些上学路上的孩子

and searched their pockets for drugs as they walked to class?

从他们的口袋中搜查毒品

Or had raided their frat parties in the middle of the night?

或者在半夜突击检查他们的朋友聚会，他们会留下多少犯罪记录吗？

Okay, you might say.

好的，你也许会说

But doesn't this high incarceration rate

但是高服刑率

partly account for our really low crime rate?

不是一定程度上降低了犯罪率吗？

Crime is down. That's a good thing.

犯罪率下降了，这是好事。

Totally, that is a good thing. Crime is down.

没错，犯罪率下降是好事。

It dropped precipitously in the '90s and through the 2000s.

从90年代到本世纪初，犯罪率大幅下降

But according to a committee of academics

但是根据一个由国家科学院去年召开的

convened by the National Academy of Sciences last year,

学术会议的测算

the relationship between our historically high incarceration rates

我们历史上高服刑率

and our low crime rate is pretty shaky.

和我们的低犯罪率的关系并不十分牢靠

It turns out that the crime rate goes up and down

犯罪率的高低

irrespective of how many young people we send to prison.

和我们送多少年轻人进监狱并无关系

We tend to think about justice in a pretty narrow way:

我们总是在一个狭窄的范围下思考正义

good and bad, innocent and guilty.

好或者坏，无罪或者有罪

Injustice is about being wrongfully convicted.

不正义就是被错误的定罪

So if you're convicted of something you did do,

所以如果你因为自己做过的事被定罪

you should be punished for it.

你就应该受到相应的惩罚

There are innocent and guilty people,

总是用无辜的和有罪的人

there are victims and there are perpetrators.

总是有被害者和犯罪者

Maybe we could think a little bit more broadly than that.

如果我们能再思考地更广一点

Right now, we're asking kids who live in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods,

现在，我们却要求这些住在最恶劣的社区的小孩

who have the least amount of family resources,

他们只有最少的家庭资源

who are attending the country's worst schools,

他们上着全国最差的学校

who are facing the toughest time in the labor market,

他们面对着劳动力市场的最艰难的时刻

who are living in neighborhoods where violence is an everyday problem,

他们住在每天都有暴力问题发生的社区

we're asking these kids to walk the thinnest possible line --

我们却要求他们实现几乎不可能完成的事情

to basically never do anything wrong.

不允许一丝错误

Why are we not providing support to young kids facing these challenges?

为什么我们不提供给这些孩子 面对这些挑战的帮助呢？

Why are we offering only handcuffs, jail time and this fugitive existence?

为什么我们提供的只有手铐，监狱和逃亡生活呢？

Can we imagine something better?

我们就不能想象一点更好的事情吗？

Can we imagine a criminal justice system that prioritizes recovery,

难道我们就不能想象一个重视重归社会

prevention, civic inclusion,

重视预防犯罪和城市包容性

rather than punishment?

而不是只重视惩罚的司法系统吗？

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

A criminal justice system that acknowledges

这个司法系统

the legacy of exclusion that poor people of color in the U.S. have faced

承认有色人种在美国被隔离和疏远的历史

and that does not promote and perpetuate those exclusions.

并且不会再促进和保持这种隔离和疏远

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

And finally, a criminal justice system that believes in black young people,

最终，这个司法系统更信任这些黑人青年

rather than treating black young people as the enemy to be rounded up.

而不是不是把这些黑人青年当作敌人来对待

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

The good news is that we already are.

好消息是，我们已经在努力之中

A few years ago, Michelle Alexander wrote "The New Jim Crow,"

几年前，米歇尔亚历山大撰写了 《The New Jim Crow》这本书

which got Americans to see incarceration as a civil rights issue

这本书让美国人认识到

of historic proportions in a way they had not seen it before.

服刑率在历史上也是一个重要的人权问题，而且是前所未见的

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have come out very strongly

总统奥巴马和首席检察官埃里克候得对于量刑改革

on sentencing reform,

以及在量刑中的种族不平等

on the need to address racial disparity in incarceration.

十分的重视

We're seeing states throw out Stop and Frisk

我们看到有些州开始禁止截查和搜身

as the civil rights violation that it is.

因为这些侵犯了人权

We're seeing cities and states decriminalize possession of marijuana.

我们看到有些州和城市拥有大麻合法化

New York, New Jersey and California

他们是纽约，新泽西和加利福尼亚

have been dropping their prison populations, closing prisons,

这些措施减少了他们的服刑人数，关闭了一些监狱

while also seeing a big drop in crime.

但是于此同时犯罪率也大幅地降低了

Texas has gotten into the game now,

德克萨斯也开始了相同的举措

also closing prisons, investing in education.

同样关闭监狱，投资教育

This curious coalition is building from the right and the left,

一个从左派到右派的奇异的联盟正在建立起来

made up of former prisoners and fiscal conservatives,

成员有前服刑人员和财政保守派

of civil rights activists and libertarians,

还有人权活动家和自由主义者

of young people taking to the streets to protest police violence

年轻人走上大街去抗议那些

against unarmed black teenagers,

暴力对待手无寸铁的黑人青少年的警察

and older, wealthier people --

而年长的，富有的人——

some of you are here in the audience --

有一些是我们这里的观众——

pumping big money into decarceration initiatives

也捐助了巨额资金到这些反监禁的活动中

In a deeply divided Congress,

在严重分离的国会

the work of reforming our criminal justice system

司法系统变革的工作

is just about the only thing that the right and the left

也是唯一一个能让左派和右派

are coming together on.

走到一起的工作

I did not think I would see this political moment in my lifetime.

我并不认为在我的有生之年能 看到这个政治时刻的到来

I think many of the people who have been working tirelessly

我想很多正在不止疲倦的书写

to write about the causes and consequences

关于我们历史性的高服刑率

of our historically high incarceration rates

的起因和结果的人

did not think we would see this moment in our lifetime.

也不会认为能在有生之年能看到这个时刻的来临

The question for us now is, how much can we make of it?

现在我们的问题是，我们究竟能达成多少目标？

How much can we change?

我们究竟能改变到何种程度？

I want to end with a call to young people,

最后，我想对年轻人呼吁

the young people attending college

对正在上大学的年轻人

and the young people struggling to stay out of prison

对正在监狱外挣扎抗争的年轻人

or to make it through prison and return home.

对服刑结束重返家庭的年轻人

It may seem like these paths to adulthood are worlds apart,

这也许看上去是几种完全不同的成人之路

but the young people participating in these two institutions

但是年轻人参加这两种机构

conveying us to adulthood,

最终成人

they have one thing in common:

他们有着共同点：

Both can be leaders in the work of reforming our criminal justice system.

他们都可以成为重建我们司法系统的工作的领导者

Young people have always been leaders in the fight for equal rights,

青年们永远都是为了公平权利的斗争

the fight for more people to be granted dignity

为了更多的人赢得尊严的斗争

and a fighting chance at freedom.

为了自由的机会的斗争的领导者

The mission for the generation of young people

赋予给这一代青年的使命

coming of age in this, a sea-change moment, potentially,

在这个即将到来的时代，历史性的时刻，

is to end mass incarceration and build a new criminal justice system,

终结高服刑率，建造一个能充分表达

emphasis on the word justice.

“正义”这个词的全新的司法系统

Thanks.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（鼓掌）