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）本文选自By Anamaria Wilson Time; 02/14/2000, Vol. 155 Issue 6, p68, 1/3p

注（2）本文习题命题模仿对象1997年真题text 5（其中因1997年真题text 5只有4个题目，所以本文第4题模仿参照对象为1999年 Text 4的第4题。）

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

本文的结构形式为提出问题----分析问题。在第一段首先提出问题,以一个案例为切入点，对比白人少年与有色人种少年受到的不同待遇。第二段和第三段用事实进一步说明司法机关对有色人种的青少年的歧视以及他们受到的不公正待遇。第四段阐述了司法机关的这一做法造成的不良影响。

词汇注释

offender n.罪犯, 冒犯者

coverage n.保险项目；保险范围

option n.选择;供选择的事物

detain v.拘留,

in a nutshell 简括地,简言之；简要地说

felony n.[律]重罪

rehabilitate v. 使(身体)康复, 使复职, 使恢复名誉, 使复原

get-tough adj.强硬的

concede v.勉强, 承认

brutalize v.残酷地对待

detention n.拘留, 禁闭

难句突破

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.

主体句式：Minority youths are more than …

结构分析：这是一个比较长的简单句。“more than twice as likely as their white counterparts”是一种表示倍数的表达方式；“to be transferred out of the juvenile-justice system and tried as adults”不定式短语来修饰white counterparts; “according to a study released last week by the Justice Policy Institute”是现在分词做伴随状语；“a research center in San Francisco”是“the Justice Policy Institute”的同位语。

句子译文：刑法政策研究所是旧金山的一个研究中心。据其上周发表的研究结果，在加利福尼亚，因为犯重罪被少年法庭转出而以成人的身份被审判逮捕的非白人少年比白人少年多出两倍还要多。

题目分析

1． 答案为C，属推理判断题。作者在第一段中进行对比，目的在于引出同一性质案例因为对象不同，从而处理结果也不同这一论点。

2． 答案为B，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是：“Discrimination against kids of color accumulates at every stage of the justice system and skyrockets when juveniles are, tried as adults”。其它选项意思与原文不符。

3． 答案为A ，属猜词题。从单词所在的句子语境中，我们可以判断skyrocket与accumulate的意思相近，并且程度更强。了解到这一点就不难作出选择。

4．答案为A，属推理判断题。原文相关信息是“The system, in essence, is training career criminals. And it's doing its worst work among minorities”。

5．答案为D，属情感态度题。作者通篇都在阐述司法机关对有色人种青少年的不公正待遇。

参考译文

把他们关起来！

有色人种青少年更可能以成人的身份受审

一白人少年在他就读的郊区中学贩卖了一袋可卡因。一拉丁美洲少年在其居住的内城区附近也做了同样的事情。两个人都被抓住了。两个人都是初犯。白人少年是由其父母，牧师，知名律师陪伴，并带着医疗保险接受少年法庭的审理；而拉丁美洲少年却只有母亲陪伴，没有任何法律援助，也没有保险。法官判白人少年与其父母安然离开法庭，私下进行审理。而这位有色人种少年除了被拘留别无选择。

简而言之，这样的事情在少年法庭上越来越常见。刑法政策研究所是旧金山的一个研究中心。根据上周发表的研究结果，在加利福尼亚，因为犯重罪被少年法庭转出而以成人的身份被审判逮捕的非白人少年比白人少年多出两倍还要多。一旦被移交成人法庭，那些年轻的黑人犯法者被送进监狱的可能性是白人的十八倍，美籍西班牙人是白人的八倍。这项研究的合作者Dan Macallair说：“司法系统的每一个层面对有色人种中青少年的歧视越来越强，而这些年轻人一旦以成人的身份被审判的话，这种歧视表现得更为淋漓尽致。”加利福尼亚有一个双重标准：把犯罪的有色人种少年扔进监狱，对犯有同等罪行的白人少年却实行教育感化。

虽然青少年犯罪率在二十世纪九十年代初期达到高峰以来已经有所下降，但是未成年人触目惊心的暴力行为强化了公众对其强硬的态度。在过去六年中，有四十三个州通过的法律更容易使青少年以成人的身份受审。一九九六年美国德克萨斯州和康涅狄格州的记录是能收集到的最近的数字资料，资料表明在监狱服刑的所有青少年都是有色人种。作为司法政策研究所的所长，Vincent Schiraldi承认“有些青少年确实应该作为成人进行审判，但是他们中大多数人是可以教育感化的。”

成人监狱对待这些青少年却是非常残酷的。这些人自杀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们的五倍。“量刑计划”是华盛顿的一个改革团体，作为它的女发言人，Jenni Gainsborough认为“这些人一旦被释放，他们的犯罪率会更高，罪行会更恶劣。”这种体系实际上是在训练职业罪犯，对于有色人种而言情况更为糟糕。