hello大家好！前几年，美国华裔富二代李某涉嫌谋杀前男友被捕，其母亲支付了5亿元人民币（价值7000万美元的房产）的保释金，将其保释出狱。手笔之大，震惊美国！ 之前，曾有两名年仅18岁的中国留学生，涉嫌非法绑架同胞，保释金总额高达600万美元，创下了“留学生之最”。 但与5亿元人民币相比，“留学生之最”的600万美元，简直是小巫见大巫。 当美国人惊呼中国人为什么这么有钱，中国人也在纳闷：交钱就可以保释出狱，美国人就不怕罪犯跑了吗？ 自 2000 年以来，美国每年被定罪的人数一直保持稳定，但每年入狱的平均人数却猛增。这个怎么可能？答案在于保释制度！ 演讲者：Camilo Ramirez演讲题目：The problem with the U.S. bail system
Since 2000, the annual number of people convicted of crimes in the United States has stayed steady, but the average number of people in jail each year has shot up. How can that be? The answer lies in the bail system— which isn’t doing what it was intended to do.自2000年起，美国每年犯罪的人数一直都很稳定，但每年坐牢的平均人数却飚升。怎么会这样？答案藏在保释制度当中——这个制度并没有做到它的本意。The term "bail" refers to the release of people awaiting trial on condition that they return to court to face charges. Countries around the world use many variations of bail, and some don’t use it at all. The U.S. bail system relies primarily on what’s called cash bail, which was supposed to work like this:「保释」一词指的是将等候审判的人释放出来，条件是他们要返回法庭面对控诉。全世界各地的国家有各种不同形式的保释，有些国家甚至没有保释。美国保释制度主要仰赖所谓的现金保释金，它的运作方式理当是这样的：When a person was accused of a crime, the judge would set a reasonable price for bail. The accused would pay this fee in order to be released from jail until the court reached a verdict on the case. Once the case ended, whether found guilty or innocent, they’d get the bail money back if they made all their court appearances. The rationale behind this system is that under U.S. law, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty— so someone accused of a crime should not be imprisoned unless they’ve been convicted of a crime.当有人被指控犯罪时，法官会定出合理的保释金价格。被告支付这笔费用后就会被释放，离开监狱，直到法庭对他的案件做出裁决。案件结束后，不论他被认定有罪或无辜，只要该出席法庭时都有到场，就能把保释金拿回来。这个体制背后的基本理由是，在美国法律之下，每个人在证明有罪之前都会被假设是无辜的——所以被控诉犯罪的人不应该被囚禁，除非他被定罪。But today, the bail system in the U.S. doesn’t honor the presumption of innocence. Instead, it subverts peoples’ rights and causes serious harm, particularly to people in low-income communities and communities of color.但现今的美国保释制度并没有尊重这个无辜的前题假设。反之，这个制度破坏了人民的权利并造成严重的伤害，特别是对低收入族群以及有色人种族群。A key reason why is the cost of bail. In order for cash bail to work as intended, the price has to be affordable for the accused. The cost of bail wasn’t meant to reflect the likelihood of someone’s guilt— when bail is set, the court has not reviewed evidence. Under exceptional circumstances, such as charges of very serious crimes, judges could deny bail and jail the accused before their trial. Judges were supposed to exercise this power very rarely, and could come under scrutiny for using it too often. 关键原因是保释金的价码。如果要让现金保释金做到原本的目的，就应该是被告负担得起的价码。保释金的价码不应该是在反应被告确实有罪的可能性——设定保释金的数额时，法庭尚未检视过证据。在特殊的情况中，比如因非常严重的犯罪而被罪起诉，法官可以否决保释，并在审判前就先将被告关入监牢。法官会行使此权力的机率本应很低，如果太常使用，应该会受到监督。Setting unaffordably high bail became a second path to denying people pretrial release. Judges' personal discretion and prejudices played a huge role in who they chose to detain this way. Bail amounts climbed higher and higher, and more and more defendants couldn’t pay— so they stayed in jail.定下高到无法负担的保释金成了不让被告在审判前被释放的第二种途径。至于法官要不要用这种方式来拘留被告，有很大一部分取决于法官的个人考察和偏见。保释金金额越来越高，越来越多被告无法支付——所以他们留在监狱中。By the late 19th century, these circumstances led to the rise of commercial bail bond companies. They pay a defendant’s bail, in exchange for a hefty fee the company keeps.到了十九世纪末，这种情况导致牟利的保证保释金公司的兴起。它们会帮被告支付保释金，交换条件是收取高额的手续费。Today, the median bail is $10,000— a prohibitively high price for almost half of Americans, and as many as nine out of ten defendants. If the defendant can’t pay, they may apply for a loan from a commercial bail bond company. It’s completely up to the company to decide whose bail they’ll pay. They choose defendants they think will pay them back, turning a profit of about $2 billion each year.现今，保释金的中位数是一万美金——对近半的美国人而言这个价格都高得吓人，对高达九成的被告而言亦然。如果被告付不起，他们可以向牟利的保证保释金公司贷款。完全由公司自己决定要帮谁支付保释金。它们会选择它们认为会还款的被告，每年获利约二十亿美元。In fact, in the past 20 years, pretrial detention has been the main driver of jail growth in America. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people who can’t afford bail or secure a loan stay in jail until their case is resolved. This injustice disproportionately affects Americans who are Black and Latino, for whom judges often set higher bail than for white people accused of the same offenses.事实上，在过去二十年间，美国监禁人数增加的主要原因就是审判前的拘留。每年有数十万人负担不起保释金、无法取得贷款，得待监狱中等候他们的案件裁决。这种不公平，对美国黑人及拉丁裔的影响大到不成比例，因为，针对同样的犯罪，法官对这些人定的保释金会比白人被告更高。Unaffordable bail puts even innocent defendants in an impossible position. Some end up pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit. For minor offenses, the prosecution may offer a deal that credits time already spent in jail toward the accused’s sentence if they plead guilty. 高到无法负担的保释金，甚至会让无辜的被告陷入困境。有些明明没有犯罪的人最后却认罪了。轻罪的情况下，检方可能会提出协议，将已经待在监狱中的时间从被告的刑期中扣除，条件是被告要认罪。Often, the time they’ve already spent in jail is the total length of the sentence, and they can go home immediately— but they leave with a criminal record. Defending their innocence, meanwhile, can mean staying in jail indefinitely awaiting trial— and doesn’t guarantee an innocent verdict.通常，他们待在监狱中的时间已经足以抵掉全部刑期，他们可以马上回家——但会留下前科。想为自己的无辜辩护可能就表示在监狱中无止境地等候审判——且还不保证会被裁定是无辜的。Bail may not even be necessary in the first place. Washington, D.C. largely abolished cash bail in the 1990s. In 2017, the city released 94% of defendants without holding bail money, and 88% of them returned to all their court dates. The nonprofit organization, The Bail Project, provides free bail assistance to thousands of low-income people every year, removing the financial incentive that bail is designed to create. 可能打从一开始就根本不需要保释。九○年代时华盛顿就已经大致废除现金保释了。2017年，该市释放了94%的被告，且没有收取保释金，当中88%的人在每次出庭日都有出席。非营利组织「保释计划」每年提供免费的保释协助给数千名低受入者，让设计保释时希望能创造的财务奖励机作用不复存在。The result? People come back to 90% of their court dates without having any money on the line, and those who miss their court dates tended to because of circumstances like child care, work conflicts, or medical crises. Studies have also found that holding people in jail before trial, often because they cannot afford cash bail, actually increases the likelihood of rearrests and reoffending.结果呢？即使没有任何钱的压力，被告仍然有出席九成的出庭日，而没有出席的通常是因为照顾孩子、工作冲突，或医疗急事等状况。研究也发现，通常因为被告无法负担现金保释金而在审判前把被告关在监狱中，其实增加再次被捕和再犯的可能。The damage of incarcerating people before their trials extends to entire communities and can harm families for generations. People who are incarcerated can lose their livelihoods, homes, and access to essential services— all before they’ve been convicted of a crime. It’s also incredibly expensive: American taxpayers spend nearly $14 billion every year incarcerating people who are legally presumed innocent. This undermines the promise of equal justice under the law, regardless of race or wealth.在审判前监禁被告所造成的损害会波及整个族群，且会伤害数世代的家人。被监禁的人可能会失去他们的生计、住家，以及取得基础服务的管道——这些都发生在他们被定罪之前。这些代价也非常高昂：美国纳税人每年要花近一百四十亿美金来监禁那些在法律上应被假设为无辜的人。这个做法会动摇法律能确保平等正义不受种族或财富影响的保证。The issues surrounding cash bail are symptomatic of societal problems, like structural racism and over-reliance on incarceration, that need to be addressed. In the meantime, reformers like The Bail Project are working to help people trapped by cash bail and to create a more just and humane pretrial system for the future.现金保释金相关的议题是社会问题的症状，比如结构性种族主义和过度仰赖监禁，这些问题都需要处理。同时，像保释计划这样的改革者正在努力协助受现金保释金所苦的人，并为未来创造出更公正、更有人性的审前制度。 Remark：一切权益归TED所有，更多TED相关信息可至官网www.ted.com查询！
