評論
打印
United States
美國
Prisoners and Jobs: Going Straight
囚犯與工作：直截了當
Banning employers from asking about criminal records may not work.
禁止雇主要求犯罪記錄可能并不奏效。
Dion got his first paying job at 14—which would be admirable, except that he was selling crack cocaine.
迪恩在他十四歲時就得到了第一份工作，這本是件極好的事，只可惜他做的工作是銷售強效可卡因。
He spent much of his early adulthood bouncing between prison and the streets of Yonkers, in New York state.
他成年后幾年內的大部分時間都輾轉在監獄和紐約揚克斯市的街道上。
Then, a few months out of one four-year spell behind bars, he discovered Greyston bakery.
然后，在結束一段四年刑期后的幾個月后他找到了格雷斯頓面包房。
Founded by a Jewish engineer-turned-Buddhist monk, Greyston practices “non-judgment”.
其猶太裔創辦人以前是工程師，后來信奉佛教，格雷斯頓面包房遵從“不做評判”的原則。
To get a job, people need only provide their names and telephone numbers, and turn up on time when a vacancy arises.
想要獲得工作，人們只需要提供姓名和電話號碼，然后在有空缺的時候準時出現就可以了。
Most companies are far more discerning, particularly when it comes to people like Dion.
但大多數公司雇人時都會更加挑剔，尤其是對待像戴恩這樣的人。
Perhaps half of America's private-sector employers ask job applicants to declare their criminal records, and two-thirds routinely run checks before taking people on.
在美國，可能有一半的私營企業老總在招聘員工時，會問及他們的犯罪記錄，三分之二的老總會在雇用員工之前，對他們進行例行調查。
They see it as necessary due diligence.
他們認為這是必要的，是在盡職盡責。
Unfortunately, checks that individual firms believe to be prudent are collectively bad for the 7m Americans who have spent time in prison and the 70m with a criminal record—numbers that may increase if Jeff Sessions, the hardline attorney-general, pushes through tougher sentencing rules.
但是，有700萬美國人曾經坐過牢，7000萬美國人有過犯罪記錄，如果強硬的司法部長杰夫·塞辛斯推行更加嚴格的判刑原則，人數可能還會更多。
Keeping convicts away from jobs may also be harming America.
這些私人企業認為是小心謹慎的做法對這些人來說總體上是壞事。罪犯找不到工作同樣可能也會危害美國。
Nearly half of all ex-prisoners re-offend within their first year of release—a share that might be lower if more found honest work.
將近一半有前科的人在他們刑滿釋放一年內會再次犯罪，如果他們中的更多人可以找到一份正當的工作，這個比例可能會降低。
The Centre for Employment Opportunities, a charity, places former convicts in 75-day work programmes.
就業機會中心作為一個慈善機構，為那些有前科的人提供了一個75天的工作項目。
Participants are paid daily and receive help to find permanent jobs.
參與者按日領取薪水，并可以通過機構幫助找到一份長期的工作。
A randomised controlled trial in which 977 former prisoners who came through the charity's doors either received the full complement of services or very few suggested that the intervention cuts reoffending by 19 percentage points.
一個隨機的對照實驗以977位進入了這個慈善機構的有前科的人作為研究對象，結果表明，無論他們接受了全部服務，還是只接受了一點兒，這種干預使再犯罪率降低了19%。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
