Capital Punishment

Do you think we should be tougher on crime?

你觉得我们应该对犯罪更严厉吗？

Well, it depends on what you mean.

嗯，那得看你怎么说了。

For example, we could bring back the death penalty for murder, give longer prison sentences for lesser offences and lock up juvenile offenders.

比如说，我们可以恢复对谋杀的死刑，对较轻的罪行判更长的刑期，并且关押未成年罪犯。

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

这些听起来真是严苛的措施。首先，如果已经把无辜的人处决了，你如何处理冤案？

You’d only use capital punishment if you were absolutely sure that you’d convicted the right person.

只有在完全确定定罪正确的情况下，你才会使用死刑。

But, there’ve been many cases of wrongful conviction where people have been imprisoned 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.

但是，有很多错案，人们被关押多年。当时当局很确信，但后来证明证据不可靠。有些情况下，证据是警方捏造的。

Well, no system of justice can be perfect, but surely there’s a good case for longer prison sentences to deter serious crime.

嗯，没有哪个司法系统是完美的，但更长的刑期肯定有助于威慑严重犯罪。

I doubt whether they could act as an effective deterrent 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.

在破案率这么低的情况下，我怀疑它们能否起到有效的威慑作用。预防犯罪的最好方法是让犯罪者相信他们会被抓住。把所有资源都投入到监狱系统是没有意义的。

But if you detect more crimes, you’ll still need prisons. 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 encourage them to do it again.

但是如果你侦破更多案件，你仍然需要监狱。依我看，如果我们能关押更多未成年罪犯，他们就会明白不能逍遥法外。轻判只会鼓励他们再犯。

Yes, but remember that prisons are often schools for criminals. To remove crime from society, you really have to tackle its causes.

是的，但要记住监狱常常是罪犯的学校。要消除社会上的犯罪，你必须真正解决其根源。

Well, if I were president, I would impose tougher laws and punishment. I would have a peaceful society based on fear of punishment, not consciousness of doing the right thing.

嗯，如果我是总统，我会实施更严厉的法律和惩罚。我要建立一个基于惩罚恐惧而非正义感的社会。

You sound like a dictator!

你听起来像个独裁者！

Well if it works, why not?

嗯，如果有效，为什么不呢？