密歇根新闻广播 密歇根检察官忽视最高法院重判青年罪犯的要求

Earlier this year, the United States Supreme¹ Court handed down a directive saying that all prisoners sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as minors², the so-called "juvenile³ lifers," should get the chance to have their sentences reconsidered.

The Court, in Miller⁴ v. Alabama in 2012 and in Montgomery v. Louisiana in 2016, said that the sentence of life without parole should be reserved only for the "rarest" of cases in which the juvenile is found to be "irreparably corrupt⁵" or "permanently⁶ incorrigible⁷."

Some 360 Michigan inmates⁸ fall into this category. But so far, Michigan prosecutors⁹ have filed motions to uphold life without parole sentences in nearly 60 percent of these cases.

Sixty percent certainly seems to be more than the "rarest" standard set forth¹⁰ by the Supreme Court, critics argue.

Deborah LaBelle is Ann Arbor¹¹ attorney leading the ACLU of Michigan's Juvenile Life Without Parole initiative. She says Michigan prosecutors are ignoring the Supreme Court.

In essence, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles¹² who've been convicted of very serious crimes that nearly always involve a homicide are different than adults.

According to LaBelle, the Court's ruling that juvenile lifers should get a chance at parole followed three other decisions concerning young offenders¹³.

First, the Court argued that juveniles are less culpable¹⁴ due to the fact that their brains aren't yet fully¹⁵ developed.

"Impulse control is not there, they don't anticipate consequences in the same way, they're subject to peer pressure," LaBelle said. 

Next, the Court said many of these children are raised in circumstances and communities in which "as a 15-, 16-year-old you can't just get the car, drive away and get a job somewhere else. You are stuck there," LaBelle said. "The environment … whether it's a dysfunctional family or sometimes the poverty of your community, can impact your options and your choices."

Finally, the Court said that juveniles just don't know how to negotiate the criminal justice system. "They don't have resources to hire counsel like adults, and so they get the worst kind of representation," LaBelle said.

But that's not all:

"The most crucial point, the Court said, is that children are uniquely capable of rehabilitation," LaBelle told us.

Michigan has the second highest number of prisoners that were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles in the country. According to LaBelle, Michigan has been resistant¹⁶ to changing in this regard for a long time.

"Michigan set forth in the 1990s some of the harshest packages of laws that punish particularly youth. And at that time, they were talking about urban youth. I mean, I think the racial component¹⁷, this can't be ignored," she said.

"Our Court has said … that punishing kids does not have a deterrent¹⁸ effect," LaBelle told us. "It doesn't serve a purpose to fail our children and then punish them with vengeance¹⁹."

What does serve a purpose, she argued, is getting these children rehabilitated²⁰ so they can come back as adults and contribute to society. But thanks to Michigan's mandated²¹ punishment of life without parole for all first degree homicide cases, most of these offenders don't get that chance.

Other states have different degrees of punishment and only hand down a sentence of life without parole for those who actually commit homicide, but Michigan is different.

"In Michigan, you can be in the car, you can be aiding and abetting²², you can commit a robbery and an adult co-defendant commits a homicide, it doesn't matter," LaBelle said. "The punishment is exactly the same, and neither judge nor jury had a choice in that punishment. It was mandatory²³."

The ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan filed a suit in federal court in 2010, before the Supreme Court came down and said that mandatory life without parole was a cruel and unusual punishment. They are now suing Michigan over the state's vague standards for denying parole to juvenile lifers.

LaBelle explains:

"We've said to the court, there are now 39 states in this country that have abolished life without parole for juveniles or have not issued this sentence since the Miller Supreme Court decision. Enough. It's cruel, it's unusual, and the way it's being applied²⁴ in Michigan shows that it should be categorically abolished," LaBelle said.

She believes there could be any number of reasons that prosecutors in Michigan aren't stepping up to the challenge laid down by the Supreme Court.

"I think that there are some who just say the resources are too much … I think that there are those who resisted the issue that children are different and continue to resist it. I think that there are those who tried these cases and stuck in their mind is a crime that happened, therefore this is a just punishment" she said.

"I think there are a bunch of different reasons, none of which do I believe are lawful²⁵ or serve the public well."

Listen to our conversation above for more.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 incorrigible   

adj.难以纠正的，屡教不改的

参考例句：

• Because he was an incorrigible criminal,he was sentenced to life imprisonment.他是一个死不悔改的罪犯，因此被判终生监禁。
• Gamblers are incorrigible optimists.嗜赌的人是死不悔改的乐天派。

8 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》

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

11 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

12 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

13 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。

14 culpable   

adj.有罪的，该受谴责的

参考例句：

• The judge found the man culpable.法官认为那个人有罪。
• Their decision to do nothing makes them culpable.他们不采取任何行动的决定使他们难辞其咎。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

17 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

18 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

19 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

20 rehabilitated   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• He has been rehabilitated in public esteem. 公众已恢复对他的敬重。
• Young persons need to be, wherever possible, rehabilitated rather than punished. 未成年人需要受到尽可能的矫正而不是惩罚。

21 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

22 abetting   

v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的现在分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持

参考例句：

• On Earth, unknowingly abetting a criminal doesn't merit this kind of punishment. 在地球上，不知不觉地帮助罪犯并不构成这种惩罚。 来自电影对白
• "By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder." 援助和唆使谋杀的塔利班政权与杀人犯同罪。 来自互联网

23 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

24 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

25 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。