出處:
英文:http://www.economist.com/node/18867740 (The Economist)
中文翻譯: http://www.ecocn.org/article-1218-1.html
Tough on crime, tough on criminals
嚴整犯罪，嚴懲罪犯
Plans to cut the prison population by reducing sentences are ditched
通過減刑來削減監獄人口的計畫擱淺
TO ITS growing list of U-turns, the government added another this week. Plans to halve the jail terms of criminals who plead guilty early were dropped from an overhaul of sentencing; instead, in a bill published on June 21st, some tariffs were raised. A bid by Ken Clarke, the justice secretary, to push liberal penal reform has flopped. David Cameron seems intent on reclaiming the Conservatives’ tough reputation on law and order: polling suggests that his coalition government is most adrift from popular sentiment in this area.
政策大轉彎的條目漸增，本周，政府當局又新加一條。英國擬修訂司法審判，若罪犯及早認罪可減刑50%，但此計畫未被採納。與之相對的是，6月21日公佈的議案中量刑被提高。英國的司法大臣肯.卡拉克推進量刑改革的嘗試落敗。看來大衛.卡麥倫決意恢復保守派嚴正以待各項法紀的名聲：民意調查顯示他領導的聯合政府在這方面的表現最不得民心。
Penal policy plainly needs to change. Prisons are overcrowded; prisoners spend most of each day lying on their beds; almost half reoffend within a year of getting out. This failing system is expensive: each prison place costs £45,000 a year. And the justice department must lop 25% off its £8 billion annual budget by 2015.刑法政策需要改變。監獄人滿為患；囚犯成天賴床度日；幾乎一半的人出獄後一年內會再犯。失效的系統代價高昂：每座監獄每年花費45000歐元，而司法部門必須在2015年前砍掉它80億英鎊年度預算的25%。
Responding to this dual challenge, Mr Clarke last year proposed sending fewer people to prison, toughening alternative sentences, improving rehabilitation and reducing reoffending through payment-by-results probation schemes. Halving the sentences of those who swiftly admit their guilt (they currently get a discount of a third) would alone have cut the 85,000-strong prison population in England and Wales by over 3,000 and saved £130m a year by 2015, his department estimated.
為應對這雙重挑戰，去年克拉克先生提議減少入獄判決、更為嚴格地對待替代性判決、改善罪犯的自新條件、通過按成果付酬試用計畫減少再犯。司法部預計，單是給那些及早認罪的人, 他們現在只可減免三分之一）刑期減半即可減掉英國和威爾士多達85000名囚犯中的3000人，這樣持續到2015年即可將節省1.3億歐元。
Mr. Clarke’s ideas were endorsed by his boss. Nevertheless, they caused an uproar, on the Tory backbenches and in the tabloid press: even though crime has broadly been falling for over a decade, surveys affirm that Britons fret more than others about law and order. On the opposite side of the argument, some prison reformers worried that rewarding guilty pleas further might put undue pressure on innocents to throw in the towel. Last month it became clear that at least one sort of offender would not be included in the discount plan: an awkward reference by Mr. Clarke to “serious rape”, which seemed to imply that some rape wasn’t, provoked fury. This week the increased discount was junked for all crimes.
克拉克先生的主意得到了他上司的支持。然而，他們在後座保守黨議員和小報中引起了一場軒然大波：儘管十多年來犯罪大大減少，但調查證實英國人對法紀的焦慮比其他國家更甚。辯論反方爭辯道，一些監獄改革派擔心進一步對認罪減刑的幅度可能給無辜市民施加過度的壓力而放棄反抗。上月，事態變得明朗，至少有一種罪犯不會被包含在減刑計畫內：克拉克先生曾提及“嚴重的強姦”一詞，好像暗示其他的強姦罪不嚴重似的，這個讓他尷尬的引用語犯了眾怒。這周，量刑減少對所有類型的罪行都沒付諸實踐。
Meanwhile, criminals guilty of serious offences are to stay behind bars for a bigger proportion of their sentences. Indeterminate sentences, or “imprisonment for public protection”, which denies prisoners the automatic right of release after serving their minimum tariff, will be reviewed, with the goal of replacing it with longer, determinate sentences. Threatening people with knives will carry a mandatory term. A new criminal offence of squatting might be created. (The right of householders to use reasonable force against burglars is to be clarified—an issue that has long been a bizarre Tory fixation.)
與此同時，罪犯如犯重罪，將會被處以更長的刑期。有刑未定的判決，或“為保障公共安全的監禁”否認了囚犯在服最低刑期後獲得釋放的自動權利，這項將被檢視，目標是用長期的定刑代替。用刀威脅公民的罪犯將被強制監禁。可能還會訂出強行佔用土地的新刑事罪行。（房主有利用正當武力對付竊賊權利，此項得到澄清—--在很長一段時間內它一直是保守黨統治下的怪誕常態）
Some of the changes in the revised plan make sense, including more sparing use of remand, more frequent resort to well-enforced community sentences and more opportunities for paid work in prison. But overall, more rather than fewer people are likely to be locked up. So Mr.. Clarke must now find new cuts in his budget. Critics say his existing proposal to carve £350m out of the £2 billion-plus spent on legal aid risks leaving vulnerable people without representation. He now promises further “efficiency” and “administrative” savings.修訂計畫中的一些改變很有意義，包括更慎重地使用候審、更多的求助於推行良好的社區刑罰和在監獄提供更多的有償工作。但總的來說，是要更多而不是更少的人被關押。所以克拉克先生現在必須在預算中找到新的可減之處。批評家說，他現在提議從花在法律援助上的20億多歐元中削減掉3.5億乃是冒著讓弱勢群體沒有表決的風險。現在他允諾提高“效率”，節省“行政開支”。
To many Tories (and indeed some Liberal Democrats), this populist reverse is a no-brainer, far removed from the muddled fudge over the NHS. It still has its risks. For all that Mr. Cameron insisted this week that changing course was a sign of strength not weakness, his capitulations are piling up. That could well embolden rebels in what is an increasingly bolshie parliament.
對很多保守黨而言（實際上還有一些自由民主黨），這個平民主義的大轉彎絲毫不費腦力，遠離了英國國民健康保險制度的泥潭。但它不無風險。雖然如此，卡麥倫先生在本周強調改變路線是強大而非弱小的標識，他棄暗投明的行為會越來越多。那很可能會給愈加激進的議會中的反對者壯膽。
