2016年经济学人 牢房中的女性 女性囚犯比男性囚犯表现更差(上)

 

Britain-Women in prison

英国 牢房中的女性

Breaking worse

让女性走出牢房

Female prisoners are more badly behaved than male ones

女性囚犯比男性囚犯表现更差

Bad behaviour behind bars

牢房之内，女性更坏？

AS A rule, women behave better than men, or are less frequently caught out: they make up just 5% of Britain's prison population. Even these troublemakers¹ are gentler than the opposite sex. In 2014 eight in ten women prisoners were jailed for non-violent offences, compared with seven in ten male prisoners.

女性比男性行为更规矩，或至少从表面上看如此，这似乎是大家都承认的。英国监狱中只有5%的犯人是女性。就算是这些女性犯罪者也比男性显得温和。2014年，每10名女性犯人中有8人是因为非暴力犯罪被捕，但每10名男性犯人则是7人。

Behind bars, however, a different trend emerges. It is women who more frequently run up against prison rules. In 2014 there were 137 punishments doled² out per 100 women but only 105 for every 100 men. They are also more violent, committing 52 assaults on staff per 1,000 female prisoners in 2015 whereas the male rate was 45. Why do women behave so badly in prison?

然而，牢房之内，情势却大不相同。和监狱纪律对着干的更多的是女性。2014年，平均每100名女性囚犯受到了137项惩罚，而每100名男性，只有105项。女性在监狱里更加暴力。2015年统计表明，平均每1000名女性会对狱警有52次攻击行为，，男性则是45次。为什么女性在监狱中表现得如此暴力呢？

Diego Gambetta, a sociologist³, says women make rougher inmates⁴ because they take longer to establish a hierarchy⁵. Fighting, he says, “is an information-seeking device”, and although the toughest men sport large muscles and scars, the toughest women are harder to spot without a scrap⁶. Another theory is that female prisoners are trickier⁷ to manage because they are more likely to suffer from mental illness: in 2015 26% of them (and 16% of male inmates) had had a psychiatric admission before going to prison. A third argument is that female jails are less crowded, so unruly prisoners are easier to spot.

社会学家Diego Gambetta说，因为女性囚犯需要更多时间来建立等级关系。Diego Gambetta还说，打架是“一种寻求信息的方式”，你很容易判断出最凶狠的男性，他们通常有着结实的肌肉和伤疤，但最凶狠的女性却没有这些特征，只能通过打架来判断。另一个说法是女性囚犯比男性囚犯更难管理，因为她们更容易患上心理疾病：2015年，26%的女囚犯（和16%的男囚犯）在入狱前就有精神病证明。第三种说法是女性监狱相对没有那么拥挤，所以一旦犯事，更容易被（狱警）发现。

1 troublemakers   

n.惹是生非者，捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was employed to chuck out any troublemakers. 他受雇把捣乱者赶走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers. 她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 doled   

救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• The food was doled out to the poor. 食品分发给了穷人。
• Sisco briskly doled out the United States positions on the key issues. 西斯科轻快地把美国在重大问题上的立场放了出去。

3 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

4 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

6 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

7 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网