英语播客EnglishPod 430

 Professor:That’s all for today’s class. We will continue our
        lecture on crime and punishment tomorrow.

 A:     Do you think we should be tougher on crime?

 B:    Well, it depends on what you mean.

 A:     For example, we could bring back the death
        penalty for murder, give longer prison sentences
       for lesser¹ offences and lock up juvenile² offenders³.

 B:    Those  really sound like Draconian  measures.
        Firstly, what do you do about  miscarriages⁴ of
       justice  if  you’ve already put innocent people to
       death?

 A:    You’d only use capital punishment if you were ab-
       solutely sure that you’d convicted the right person.
 B:     But, there’ve been many cases of wrongful con-
       viction where people have been imprisoned⁵ for
        many years. The authorities were sure at the
       time, but later it was shown that the evidence was
        unreliable.  In some cases, it’d been fabricated by
       the police.

 A:    Well, no system  of justice  can be perfect, but
       surely there’s a good case for longer prison sen-
       tences to deter⁶ serious crime.

 B:     I doubt whether they could act as an effective de-
       terrent while the detection rate is so low. The
        best way to prevent crime is to convince people
       who commit it that they’re going to be caught.                       It
       doesn’t make sense to divert all your resources
        into the prison system.

 A:     But if you detect more crimes, you’ll still need pris-
       ons. In my reckoning, if we could lock up more
       juvenile  criminals, they’d learn that they couldn’t
       get away with it. Soft sentences will merely en-
       courage them to do it again.
 B:    Yes, but remember that prisons are often schools
       for criminals. To remove crime from society, you
        really have to tackle its causes.

 A:    Well, if I were president, I would impose tougher
        laws and punishment. I would have a peaceful so-
       ciety based on fear of punishment, not conscious-
        ness of doing the right thing.

 B:    You sound like a dictator!

 A:    Well if it works, why not?
 

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

4 miscarriages   

流产( miscarriage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Miscarriages are usually caused by abnormal chromosome patterns in the fetus. 流产通常是因为胎儿的染色体异常造成的。
• Criminals go unpunishedareconvicted and are miscarriages of justice. 罪犯会逍遥法外，法律会伤及无辜，审判不公时有发生。

5 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

6 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。