Minority youths are more likely to face trial as adults

A WHITE KID SELLS A BAG OF COCAINE at his suburban high school. A Latino kid does the same in his inner-city neighborhood. Both get caught. Both are first-time offenders. The white kid walks into juvenile court with his parents, his priest, a good lawyer-and medical coverage. The Latino kid walks into court with his mom, no legal resources and no insurance. The judge lets the white kid go with his family; he's placed in a private treatment program. The minority kid has no such option. He's detained.

There, in a nutshell, is what happens more and more often in the juvenile-court system. Minority youths arrested on violent felony charges in California are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults, according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute, a research center in San Francisco. Once they are in adult courts, young black offenders are 18 times more likely to be jailed-and Hispanics seven times more likely-than are young white offenders. "Discrimination against kids of color accumulates at every stage of the justice system and skyrockets when juveniles are, tried as adults," says Dan Macallair, a co-author of the new study. "California has a double standard: throw kids of color behind bars, but .rehabilitate white kids who commit comparable crimes."

Even as juvenile crime has declined from its peak in the early 1990s, headline grabbing violence by minors has intensified a get-tough attitude. Over the past six years, 43 states have passed laws that make it easier to try juveniles as adults. In Texas and Connecticut in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available, all the juveniles in jails were minorities. Vincent Schiraldi, the Justice Policy Institute's director, concedes that "some kids need to be tried as adults. But most can be rehabilitated."

Instead, adult prisons tend to brutalize juveniles. They are eight times more likely to commit suicide and five times more likely to be sexually abused than offenders held in juvenile detention. "Once they get out, they tend to commit more crimes and more violent crimes," says Jenni Gainsborough, a spokeswoman for the Sentencing Project, a reform group in Washington. The system, in essence, is training career criminals. And it's doing its worst work among minorities.

注（1）本文選自By Anamaria Wilson Time; 02/14/2000, Vol. 155 Issue 6, p68, 1/3p

注（2）本文習題命題模仿對象1997年真題text 5（其中因1997年真題text 5只有4個題目，所以本文第4題模仿參照對象為1999年 Text 4的第4題。）

1. From the first paragraph we learn that _________.

[A]the white kid is more lucky than the minority kid

[B]the white kid has got a lot of help than the minority kid

[C]the white kid and minority kid has been treated differently

[D]the minority kid should be set free at once.

2. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

[A]Kids shouldn’t be tried as adults.

[B] Discrimination exists in the justice system.

[C]Minority kids are likely to commit crimes.

[D] States shouldn’t pass the laws.

3. The word “skyrocket” (Line 13, Paragraph 2) means ________.

[A]rising sharply

[B]widening suddenly

[C]spreading widely

[D]expanding quickly

4. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ________.

[A] something seems to be wrong with the justice system

[B]adult prisons have bad influence on the juveniles

[C] juveniles in adult prison are ill-treated

[D]the career criminals are trained by the system

5. The passage shows that the author is _________ the present situation.

[A] amazed at

[B]puzzled by

[C]disappointed at

[D] critical of

答案：CBAAD

篇章剖析

本文的結構形式為提出問題----分析問題。在第一段首先提出問題,以一個案例為切入點，對比白人少年與有色人種少年受到的不同待遇。第二段和第三段用事實進一步說明司法機關對有色人種的青少年的歧視以及他們受到的不公正待遇。第四段闡述了司法機關的這一做法造成的不良影響。

詞匯注釋

offender n.罪犯, 冒犯者

coverage n.保險項目；保險范圍

option n.選擇;供選擇的事物

detain v.拘留,

in a nutshell 簡括地,簡言之；簡要地說

felony n.[律]重罪

rehabilitate v. 使(身體)康復, 使復職, 使恢復名譽, 使復原

get-tough adj.強硬的

concede v.勉強, 承認

brutalize v.殘酷地對待

detention n.拘留, 禁閉

難句突破

1．Minority youths arrested on violent felony charges in California are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults, according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute, a research center in San Francisco.

主體句式：Minority youths are more than …

結構分析：這是一個比較長的簡單句?！癿ore than twice as likely as their white counterparts”是一種表示倍數的表達方式；“to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults”不定式短語來修飾white counterparts; “according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute”是現在分詞做伴隨狀語；“a research center in San Francisco”是“the Justice Policy Institute”的同位語。

句子譯文：刑法政策研究所是舊金山的一個研究中心。據其上周發表的研究結果，在加利福尼亞，因為犯重罪被少年法庭轉出而以成人的身份被審判逮捕的非白人少年比白人少年多出兩倍還要多。

題目分析

1． 答案為C，屬推理判斷題。作者在第一段中進行對比，目的在于引出同一性質案例因為對象不同，從而處理結果也不同這一論點。

2． 答案為B，屬事實細節題。原文對應信息是：“Discrimination against kids of color accumulates at every stage of the justice system and skyrockets when juveniles are, tried as adults”。其它選項意思與原文不符。

3． 答案為A ，屬猜詞題。從單詞所在的句子語境中，我們可以判斷skyrocket與accumulate的意思相近，并且程度更強。了解到這一點就不難作出選擇。

4．答案為A，屬推理判斷題。原文相關信息是“The system, in essence, is training career criminals. And it's doing its worst work among minorities”。

5．答案為D，屬情感態度題。作者通篇都在闡述司法機關對有色人種青少年的不公正待遇。

參考譯文

把他們關起來！

有色人種青少年更可能以成人的身份受審

一白人少年在他就讀的郊區中學販賣了一袋可卡因。一拉丁美洲少年在其居住的內城區附近也做了同樣的事情。兩個人都被抓住了。兩個人都是初犯。白人少年是由其父母，牧師，知名律師陪伴，并帶著醫療保險接受少年法庭的審理；而拉丁美洲少年卻只有母親陪伴，沒有任何法律援助，也沒有保險。法官判白人少年與其父母安然離開法庭，私下進行審理。而這位有色人種少年除了被拘留別無選擇。

簡而言之，這樣的事情在少年法庭上越來越常見。刑法政策研究所是舊金山的一個研究中心。根據上周發表的研究結果，在加利福尼亞，因為犯重罪被少年法庭轉出而以成人的身份被審判逮捕的非白人少年比白人少年多出兩倍還要多。一旦被移交成人法庭，那些年輕的黑人犯法者被送進監獄的可能性是白人的十八倍，美籍西班牙人是白人的八倍。這項研究的合作者Dan Macallair說：“司法系統的每一個層面對有色人種中青少年的歧視越來越強，而這些年輕人一旦以成人的身份被審判的話，這種歧視表現得更為淋漓盡致?！奔永Ｄ醽営幸粋€雙重標準：把犯罪的有色人種少年扔進監獄，對犯有同等罪行的白人少年卻實行教育感化。

雖然青少年犯罪率在二十世紀九十年代初期達到高峰以來已經有所下降，但是未成年人觸目驚心的暴力行為強化了公眾對其強硬的態度。在過去六年中，有四十三個州通過的法律更容易使青少年以成人的身份受審。一九九六年美國德克薩斯州和康涅狄格州的記錄是能收集到的最近的數字資料，資料表明在監獄服刑的所有青少年都是有色人種。作為司法政策研究所的所長，Vincent Schiraldi承認“有些青少年確實應該作為成人進行審判，但是他們中大多數人是可以教育感化的?！?/P>

成人監獄對待這些青少年卻是非常殘酷的。這些人自殺的可能性是少管所的罪犯的八倍，遭到性虐待的可能性是他們的五倍?！傲啃逃媱潯笔侨A盛頓的一個改革團體，作為它的女發言人，Jenni Gainsborough認為“這些人一旦被釋放，他們的犯罪率會更高，罪行會更惡劣。”這種體系實際上是在訓練職業罪犯，對于有色人種而言情況更為糟糕。