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高级英语第二册(MP3+中英字幕) 第13课:为死刑辩护(17)

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In the propaganda for abolishing the death sentence the recital of numerous miscarriages of justice commits the same error and implies the same callousness : What is at fault in our present system is not the sentence but the fallible procedure. Capital cases being one in a thousand or more, who can be cheerful at the thought of all the "revocable" errors? What the miscarriages point to is the need for reforming the jury system, the rules of evidence, the customs of prosecution, the machinery of appeal. The failure to see that this is the great task reflects the sentimentality I spoke of earlier, that which responds chiefly to the excitement of the unusual. A writer on Death and the Supreme Court is at pains to point but that when that tribunal reviews a capital case, the judges are particularly anxious and careful. What a left-handed complimentto the highest judicial conscience of the country! Fortunately, some of the champions of the misjudged see the issue more clearly. Many of those who are thought wronglyconvicted now languish in jail because the jury was uncertain or because a doubting governor commuted the death sentence. Thus Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard, Jr., convicted of his wife's murder in the second degree is serving a sentence that is supposed to run for the term of his natural life. The story of his numerous trials, as told by Mr. Paul Holmes, suggests that police incompetence, newspaper demagogy, public envy of affluence and the mischances of legal procedure fashioned the result.

废除派在宣传废除死刑的主张时列举了大量错判案件。他们列举这些案件时犯了判案时同样的错误,并表现出同样的冷漠态度:现行法律制度的弊病并不在刑罚方面而在于易出现差错的司法程序方面。在所有案件中该判死刑的案件所占比率不过千分之一,甚至更少。有谁会一想到这些案件可能是"可以挽回的"错案就感到欣慰呢?案件的错判只能说明现行的陪审制度、有关获取犯罪证据、提出起诉及进行上诉等一系列程序的具体规定和办法有必要加以修改,这才是我们面临的重任。对这一点缺乏认识,就是我前面曾提到的那种主要由对反常事物的特别敏感而引起的感情作用的反映。一个记者在报道死刑和最高法院的情况时总是极力指出,每当法庭复审死刑案件时法官们就会特别不安而谨慎小心。这对我们国家最高司法当局的法律道德是一种多么言不由衷的赞颂之辞!幸而在那些为遭错判的人辩护的人们之中有些人对这一点看得更明白。许多被认为遭错判的人现在之所以能蹲在监狱里受活罪,不是因为陪审团持有异议就是因为州长感觉有可疑之处而将死刑减轻为监禁。塞缪尔·H谢泼德医生杀妻一案就是这样被定为二级谋杀罪(即误杀--译者注),被判终身徒刑的。据保罗.霍姆斯先生记述的有关他那一案件的多次庭审经过告诉人们:是警方的无能、报纸的煽动、公众对于富豪的妒忌及法律程序中的一些纰漏等因素的作用导致了最后的结局。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
cheerful ['tʃiəfəl]

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adj. 高兴的,快乐的

 
jail [dʒeil]

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n. 监牢,监狱,拘留所
vt. 监禁,下狱

 
jury ['dʒuəri]

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n. 陪审团,评委会
adj. 临时用的

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recital [ri'saitl]

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n. 背诵,吟诵,详述 n. 独奏会,独唱会

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supreme [sju:'pri:m]

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adj. 最高的,至上的,极度的

 
uncertain [ʌn'sə:tn]

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adj. 不确定的

 
unusual [ʌn'ju:ʒuəl]

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adj. 不平常的,异常的

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fallible ['fæləbl]

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adj. 易犯错误的

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prosecution [.prɔsi'kju:ʃən]

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n. 实行,经营,起诉

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sentimentality [,sentimen'tæliti, -mən-]

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n. 多愁善感

 

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