What if we ended the injustice of bail? | Robin Steinberg

翻译人员: Viviana Hu 校对人员: Peipei Xiang

I will never forget the first time I visited a client in jail.

我永远不会忘记第一次 去监狱拜访当事人的情景。

The heavy, metal door slammed behind me,

沉重的铁门在我身后猛地关上，

and I heard the key turn in the lock.

钥匙在锁孔里转动的声音是那么清晰。

The cement floor underneath me had a sticky film on it

我脚下的水泥地上 是一层粘脚的薄膜，

that made a ripping sound,

会发出撕裂般的声响，

like tape being pulled off a box,

就像从纸盒上撕下胶带时 发出的那种声响，

every time I moved my foot.

它伴随着我迈出的每一步。

The only connection to the outside world was a small window placed too high to see.

这里与外界的唯一联系就是 一个高得根本看不见的小窗。

There was a small, square table bolted to the floor

房间里有一个被钉在地上、小小的方桌，

and two metal chairs,

桌子两边

one on either side.

各有一张金属的椅子。

That was the first time I understood viscerally --

就在那一瞬间，

just for a fleeting moment --

我第一次切身地体会到了

what incarceration might feel like.

一个人被监禁的感觉。

And I promised myself all those years ago as a young, public defender

身为一名年轻的公设辩护律师， 那时候的我就向自己保证，

that I would never, ever forget that feeling.

我永远永远都不会忘记那种感觉。

And I never have.

我的确从来没有忘记。

那种感觉激励着我 为每一个当事人的自由而抗争，

It inspired me to fight for each and every one of my clients' freedom

as if it was my own.

就如为我自己的自由抗争一样。

Freedom.

自由——

A concept so fundamental to the American psyche

这个理念对于美国精神是如此重要，

that it is enshrined in our constitution.

我们把它永远写在了宪法中。

And yet, America is addicted to imprisonment.

然而，美国却对囚禁犯人情有独钟。

From slavery through mass incarceration,

从奴隶制到大规模监禁，

it always has been.

一直都是这样。

Look, we all know the shocking numbers.

我们都知道这些可怕的数据。

The United States incarcerates more people per capita

美国的人均被监禁率

than almost any nation on the planet.

居世界之首。

But what you may not know is that on any given night in America,

但你可能并不知道， 在美国，每个晚上，

almost half a million people go to sleep in those concrete jail cells

都有将近50万人 不得不在水泥牢房中入睡，

who have not been convicted of anything.

尽管他们还未被定罪。

These mothers and fathers and sons and daughters

这些母亲、父亲、儿子、女儿，

are there for one reason and one reason only:

被囚禁的原因只有一个：

they cannot afford to pay the price of their freedom.

他们无法为他们的自由买单。

And that price is called bail.

而这个价格，就是保释金。

Now, bail was actually created as a form of conditional release.

保释金的本意是一种有条件的释放。

The theory was simple:

初衷很简单：

set bail at an amount that somebody could afford to pay --

把保释金定在一个人们 可以负担的价格——

they would pay it --

当事人便会支付，

it would give them an incentive to come back to court;

同时这也是 他们回到法庭的动机，

it would give them some skin in the game.

毕竟他们投入了金钱。

Bail was never intended to be used as punishment.

保释金的本意从来不是惩罚，

Bail was never intended to hold people in jail cells.

也不是为了囚禁人们，

And bail was never, ever intended to create a two-tier system of justice:

更不是要打造两层的司法系统：

one for the rich and one for everybody else.

一层给富人， 一层给其他所有人。

But that is precisely what it has done.

然而，这恰恰却是 保释金带来的后果。

Seventy-five percent of people in American local jails

在美国的地方看守所里，75%的人

are there because they cannot pay bail.

都是因为交不起保释金， 才被囚禁在那里的。

People like Ramel.

比如拉米尔。

On a chilly October afternoon,

一个寒冷的10月下午，

Ramel was riding his bicycle in his South Bronx neighborhood

拉米尔正在南布朗克斯的 小区骑着自行车，

on his way to a market to pick up a quart of milk.

他要去超市买牛奶。

He was stopped by the police.

他被警察拦了下来，

And when he demanded to know why he was being stopped,

当他质问警察为什么要拦他时，

两人便争吵起来。 接着，没等他反应过来，

an argument ensued, and the next thing he knew,

he was on the ground in handcuffs,

他已经被按到地上，手带镣铐，

being charged with "riding your bicycle on the sidewalk

罪名是“在人行道上骑自行车

and resisting arrest."

并且抗捕”。

He was taken to court,

他被带上法庭，

where a judge set 500 dollars bail.

法官判决他要交500美元的保释金，

But Ramel -- he didn't have 500 dollars.

可是拉米尔没有那么多钱。

So this 32-year-old father was sent to "The Boat" --

于是，这位32岁的父亲 被送到了“那艘船”上。

a floating jail barge that sits on the East River

“那艘船”是东河上的一个漂浮监狱，

between a sewage plant and a fish market.

处于一个污水处理厂和一个鱼市之间。

That's right, you heard me.

是的，你没听错。

In New York City, in 2018,

在2018年的纽约，

we have a floating prison barge that sits out there

我们还有一个漂浮监狱，

and houses primarily black and brown men

里面关押着的几乎都是 交不起保释金的

who cannot pay their bail.

黑人和棕色皮肤得人群。

Let's talk for a moment

让我们来谈一谈，

about what it means to be in jail even for a few days.

在监狱里哪怕只是呆上几天 意味着什么。

Well, it can mean losing your job,

它意味着你可能会丢掉工作，

losing your home,

丢掉房子，

jeopardizing your immigration status.

危及你的移民身份，

It may even mean losing custody of your children.

甚至失去对你孩子的监护权。

A third of sexual victimization by jail staff

三分之一的 监狱员工性侵囚犯案件

happens in the first three days in jail,

是在入狱三天内发生的。

and almost half of all jail deaths, including suicides,

将近一半的狱内死亡，包括自杀，

happen in that first week.

在入狱一周内发生。

What's more, if you're held in jail on bail,

而且，如果你是因 无法支付保释金而入狱，

you're four times more likely to get a jail sentence

你被判刑的几率是支付了保释金

than if you had been free,

而不用入狱的人的四倍；

and that jail sentence will be three times longer.

而你的刑期 也将是那些人的三倍。

And if you are black or Latino and cash bail has been set,

如果你是黑人或者拉丁裔， 并被要求支付保释金，

you are two times more likely to remain stuck in that jail cell

你被困在牢房的几率

than if you were white.

是一个白人的两倍。

Jail in America is a terrifying, dehumanizing and violent experience.

在美国，坐牢是一个可怕、 毫无人性，而又充满暴力的经历。

Now imagine for just one moment that it's you stuck in that jail cell,

现在，想象一下， 你被困在一个牢房里，

and you don't have the 500 dollars to get out.

你没有500美元，无法获得自由。

And someone comes along and offers you a way out.

这时有人过来，说可以帮你出狱。

"Just plead guilty," they say.

“只要承认你有罪就行了，”他们说，

"You can go home back to your job.

“你可以回家，回去工作，

Just plead guilty.

只要你承认自己有罪，

You can kiss your kids goodnight tonight."

你今晚就可以亲吻你的孩子， 和他们道晚安。“

So you do what anybody would do in that situation.

于是你像所有 处在这个情境中的人一样，

You plead guilty whether you did it or not.

承认自己有罪，无论真相如何。

But now you have a criminal record

但现在，你的记录上有了一个

that's going to follow you for the rest of your life.

将追随你终身的犯罪记录。

Jailing people because they don't have enough money to pay bail

仅仅因为人们无法支付保释金 而把他们关进监狱，

is one of the most unfair, immoral things we do as a society.

是这个社会极不公平和 极不道德的一件事。

But it is also expensive and counterproductive.

同时，它还昂贵且无效。

American taxpayers --

美国的纳税人

they spend 14 billion dollars annually holding people in jail cells

每年要花掉140亿美元来关押那些

who haven't been convicted of anything.

还尚未被定罪的人。

That's 40 million dollars a day.

也就是，每天要花4000万美元！

What's perhaps more confounding is it doesn't make us any safer.

更让人不解的是， 这并不能让我们更加安全。

Research is clear that holding somebody in jail

研究清楚地显示，坐过牢的人，

makes you significantly more likely to commit a crime when you get out

出来后犯罪的几率比从来没坐过牢的人

than if you had been free all along.

要高得多。

Freedom makes all the difference.

自由和不自由，结果有着天壤之别！

Low-income communities

低收入人群，以及有色人群，

and communities of color have known that for generations.

一直都知道这一点。

Together, they have pooled their resources to buy their loved ones freedom

只要保释制和监狱依然存在，

for as long as bondage and jail cells existed.

他们就不得不倾家荡产， 以交换他们亲人的自由。

But the reach of the criminal legal system has grown too enormous,

然而刑事法律制度的触角 已经无处不在，

被囚禁的人实在太多了。

and the numbers are just too large.

Ninety-nine percent of jail growth in America has been the result --

过去20年，美国99%的

over the last 20 years --

监禁增长率——

of pre-trial incarceration.

便是预审监禁的结果。

I have been a public defender for over half my life,

我大半生都是一个公设辩护律师，

and I have stood by and watched thousands of clients

我曾眼睁睁地看着无数的当事人

as they were dragged into those jail cells

被拖进监狱里，

仅仅是因为他们 无法支付保释金。

because they didn't have enough money to pay bail.

I have watched as questions of justice were subsumed by questions of money,

我眼睁睁地看着正义越来越关乎金钱，

calling into question the legitimacy of the entire American legal system.

这让人不禁怀疑 整个美国法律制度的合法性。

I am here to say something simple --

我来到这里， 只为说一句简单的话——

something obvious,

它显而易见，

but something urgent.

却又迫在眉睫。

Freedom makes all the difference,

自由和不自由，结果大不相同，

and freedom should be free.

并且自由不应该被标价。

(Applause)

（掌声）

But how are we going to make that happen?

那我们应该怎么做呢？

Well, that's the question I was wrestling with over a decade ago

这是一个我已经思考了十年的问题。

when I was sitting at a kitchen table with my husband, David,

有一天，我和丈夫大卫坐在餐桌旁，

他也是一个公共辩护律师。

who is also a public defender.

We were eating our Chinese takeout and venting about the injustice of it all

我们一边吃中餐外卖， 一边抱怨保释金的不公平。

when David looked up and said,

这时大卫抬起头，说：

"Why don't we just start a bail fund,

“为什么我们不建立一个保释金基金，

and just start bailing our clients out of jail?"

然后把我们的当事人都保释出来呢？“

And in that unexpected moment,

就在那意外的一瞬间，

the idea for the Bronx Freedom Fund was born.

布朗克斯自由基金会的想法诞生了。

Look, we didn't know what to expect.

其实我们不知道会发生什么。

There were plenty of people that told us we were crazy

很多人都说我们疯了，

and we were going to lose all of the money.

说我们会失去所有这些钱的。

当事人不会回来， 失去的保释金又不是他们的钱。

People wouldn't come back because they didn't have any stake in it.

But what if clients did come back?

可是，如果当事人回来了呢？

We knew that bail money comes back at the end of a criminal case,

我们知道，保释金 会在刑事诉讼结束之后被退回，

so it could come back into the fund,

因此它会返回到基金会，

而我们可以一遍遍地 用这个钱支付保释金。

and we could use it over and over again for more and more bail.

That was our big bet,

这就是我们下的豪赌，

and that bet paid off.

并且我们赢了。

Over the past 10 years,

在过去十年里，

we have been paying bails for low-income residents of New York City,

我们一直在为纽约的 低收入人群支付保释金。

and what we have learned has exploded our ideas

我们从中学到的东西，颠覆了我们

of why people come back to court

对于为什么人们会回到法庭、

and how the criminal legal system itself is operated.

对于刑事法律制度本身 如何运作的认知。

Turns out money isn't what makes people come back to court.

原来，保释金并不是 让当事人回到法庭的动机。

We know this because when the Bronx Freedom Fund pays bail,

因为当布朗克斯自由基金会 代付了保释金时，

96 percent of clients return for every court appearance,

96%的当事人 出席了所有的庭审，

laying waste to the myth that it's money that mattered.

完全摧毁了他们是 因为保释金才回来的谎言。

It's powerful evidence that we don't need cash

这可以有力地证明我们不需要钱，

or ankle bracelets

或者脚镣，

or unnecessary systems of surveillance and supervision.

或者多余的监督、监控系统。

We simply need court reminders --

我们只需要简单的出庭提醒，

simple court reminders about when to come back to court.

提醒当事人 什么时候应该出席法庭。

Next, we learned that if you're held in jail on a misdemeanor,

接着，我们发现因轻罪而坐牢的人，

90 percent of people will plead guilty.

90%都会承认有罪。

But when the fund pays bail,

而如果有了基金会的保释金，

over half the cases are dismissed.

超过一半的案件都会被撤销。

And in the entire history of the Bronx Freedom Fund,

从布朗克斯自由基金会成立至今，

fewer than two percent of our clients have ever received a jail sentence

我们只有不到2%的当事人

of any kind.

获刑。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Ramel, a week later --

一周之后，拉米尔

he was still on the boat, locked in that jail cell.

依然在漂浮监狱的牢房里，

He was on the cusp of losing everything,

眼看就要失去一切，

and he was about to plead guilty,

他已做好承认有罪的准备。

and the Bronx Freedom Fund intervened and paid his bail.

这时布朗克斯自由基金会插手了， 为他支付了保释金。

Now, reunited with his daughter,

现在他得以和他的女儿重聚，

he was able to fight his case from outside.

并能够在监狱之外争取自己的利益。

Look, it took some time --

没错，这花了一点时间——

two years, to be exact --

准确的说，是两年——

but at the end of that,

但是最终，

his case was dismissed in its entirety.

针对他的诉讼完全撤销了。

For Ramel --

对拉米尔——

(Applause)

（掌声）

For Ramel, the Bronx Freedom Fund was a lifeline,

对拉米尔来说，布朗克斯 自由基金是他的救命稻草，

but for countless other Americans locked in jail cells,

但对其他无数 被关在监狱的美国人来说，

there is no freedom fund coming.

却没有自由基金来解救他们。

It's time to do something about that.

是时候我们为此做点什么了。

It's time to do something big.

是时候做件大事了，

It's time to do something bold.

是时候挺身而出了，

It's time to do something, maybe, audacious?

也许是时候我们大胆地冒个险了？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

We want to take our proven, revolving bail-fund model

我们想要把我们 从布朗克斯发展起来的、

被证实有效的、循环的 保释金-基金模式

that we built in the Bronx

and spread it across America,

扩张到整个美国。

attacking the front end of the legal system

在人们被囚禁之前，

before incarceration begins.

和法制体系对抗。

(Applause)

（掌声）

(Cheers)

（欢呼）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Here's the plan.

我们的计划是这样的。

(Applause)

（掌声）

我们将为尽可能多的人 支付保释金，

We're going to bail out as many people as we can

as quickly as we can.

越快越好。

Over the next five years,

在接下来的五年里，

partnering with public defenders and local community organizations,

与公共辩护律师 还有当地社区组织合作，

we're going to set up 40 sites in high-need jurisdictions.

我们将在高需求地区 设立40个站点。

The goal is to bail out 160,000 people.

我们的目标是把16万人保释出来。

Our strategy leverages the fact

我们的战略是建立在

that bail money comes back at the end of a case.

保释金最终会回到 我们手中的基础上。

Data from the Bronx

布朗克斯的数据显示，

shows that a dollar can be used two or three times a year,

每一美元每年 都可以被用上两三次，

creating a massive force multiplier.

这让我们的力量放大了数倍。

So a dollar donated today can be used to pay bail for up to 15 people

也就是说，今天捐赠的一美元 将在未来的五年内，

over the next five years.

帮助15个人支付保释金。

Our strategy also relies on the experience and the wisdom and the leadership

我们的战略同时也要依靠

那些曾亲身经历过这种不公的 人的智慧和领导力。

of those who have experienced this injustice firsthand.

(Applause)

（掌声）

Each bail project site will be staffed by a team of bail disrupters.

每个保释金项目站点 都会有一个保释金“破坏者”团队。

These are passionate, dedicated advocates from local communities,

他们是充满热情和献身精神的、 来自当地社区的支持者，

many of whom were formerly incarcerated themselves,

其中很多人都曾有过 被监禁的经历。

who will pay bails and support clients

团队会为当事人支付保释金，

while their cases are going through the legal system,

在他们的案件被审理时支持他们，

为他们提供一切 他们所需要的资源和支持。

providing them with whatever resources and support they may need.

Our first two sites are up and running.

我们已经有两个投入运营的站点。

One in Tulsa, Oklahoma,

一个在奥克拉荷马州的塔尔萨，

and one in St. Louis, Missouri.

一个在密苏里州的圣路易斯。

And Ramel?

拉米尔呢？

He's training right now to be a bail disrupter in Queens County, New York.

他正在纽约昆斯县接受训练， 马上就会成为一个保释金“破坏者”。

（掌声）

(Applause)

Our next three sites are ready to launch

我们接下来的三个站点将在

in Dallas, Detroit and Louisville, Kentucky.

达拉斯、底特律和肯塔基州的 路易斯维尔展开。

The Bail Project will attack the money bail system

这个保释金项目 将对金钱保释的制度

on an unprecedented scale.

发起前所未有的攻击。

We will also listen, collect and elevate

同时，我们也会倾听、收集、

宣传并尊重我们当事人的故事，

and honor the stories of our clients

so that we can change hearts and minds,

以改变人们的感受和想法。

and we will collect critical, national data

我们还要收集我们需要的、 国家层面的关键数据，

that we need so we can chart a better path forward

以开创一条更好的道路，

so that we do not recreate this system of oppression in just another form.

以避免创建另一种形式的压迫系统。

The Bail Project,

这个保释金项目，

by bailing out 160,000 people over the next five years,

通过在5年内保释出16万人，

will become one of the largest non-governmental decarcerations

将成为美国历史上

最大的非政府反监禁项目之一。

of Americans in history.

So look --

事实上——

(Applause)

（掌声）

the criminal legal system, as it exists --

现有的刑事法律制度

it needs to be dismantled.

需要被废除。

But here's the thing I know from decades in the system:

但从我多年在这个系统里 工作的经验来看，

real, systemic change takes time,

真正的、系统的改变需要时间，

and it takes a variety of strategies.

需要实施不同的策略。

So it's going to take all of us.

所以它需要我们大家一起努力。

It's going to take the civil rights litigators,

它需要民事权利诉讼律师、

the community organizers, the academics, the media, the philanthropists,

社区组织者、学术界人士、 媒体、慈善家、

the students, the singers, the poets,

学生、歌手、诗人，

and, of course, the voices and efforts of those who are impacted by this system.

当然还包括那些被系统迫害的 人的声音和努力。

But here's what I also know:

但我也知道：

together, I believe we can end mass incarceration.

团结一致，我相信我们 可以终结大规模监禁。

But one last thing:

但最后还有一件事：

those people, sitting in America, in those jail cells,

那些被关在美国各地的

in every corner of the country,

监狱里的人，

who are held in jail on bail bondage, right now --

那些支付不了保释金而被囚禁的人，

they need a lifeline today.

他们现在就需要 一条拯救他们的生命线。

That's where The Bail Project comes in.

这时，我们的保释金项目 就有了用武之地。

We have a proven model, a plan of action,

我们有可行的模型，有行动计划，

and a growing network of bail disrupters

还有一群正在发展壮大的 保释金“破坏者”们。

who are audacious enough to dream big and fight hard,

他们有足够的勇气 梦想未来，为之奋斗。

one bail at a time, for as long it takes,

一次一份保释金，

until true freedom and equal justice are a reality in America.

直到真正自由平等的正义 在美国成为现实。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）