Robin Steinberg: What if we ended the injustice of bail?
洛宾 · 斯丁伯格: 假如我们结束不公正的保释金会如何?
Robin Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project, a new organization designed to combat mass incarceration in the United States by disrupting the money bail system -- one person at a time. As she says: "I hate injustice and simply can't sit still when I see it." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
去监狱拜访当事人的情景。
I visited a client in jail.
had a sticky film on it
是一层粘脚的薄膜,
发出的那种声响,
was a small window placed too high to see.
一个高得根本看不见的小窗。
bolted to the floor
I understood viscerally --
那时候的我就向自己保证,
as a young, public defender
ever forget that feeling.
为每一个当事人的自由而抗争,
and every one of my clients' freedom
to the American psyche
to imprisonment.
more people per capita
is that on any given night in America,
在美国,每个晚上,
不得不在水泥牢房中入睡,
in those concrete jail cells
and sons and daughters
and one reason only:
the price of their freedom.
as a form of conditional release.
可以负担的价格——
that somebody could afford to pay --
他们回到法庭的动机,
to come back to court;
to be used as punishment.
to hold people in jail cells.
to create a two-tier system of justice:
一层给其他所有人。
and one for everybody else.
保释金带来的后果。
in American local jails
才被囚禁在那里的。
小区骑着自行车,
in his South Bronx neighborhood
to pick up a quart of milk.
why he was being stopped,
接着,没等他反应过来,
and the next thing he knew,
your bicycle on the sidewalk
被送到了“那艘船”上。
was sent to "The Boat" --
that sits on the East River
that sits out there
交不起保释金的
意味着什么。
even for a few days.
losing custody of your children.
victimization by jail staff
监狱员工性侵囚犯案件
including suicides,
if you're held in jail on bail,
无法支付保释金而入狱,
to get a jail sentence
也将是那些人的三倍。
will be three times longer.
and cash bail has been set,
并被要求支付保释金,
to remain stuck in that jail cell
dehumanizing and violent experience.
毫无人性,而又充满暴力的经历。
that it's you stuck in that jail cell,
你被困在一个牢房里,
the 500 dollars to get out.
and offers you a way out.
和他们道晚安。“
would do in that situation.
处在这个情境中的人一样,
whether you did it or not.
for the rest of your life.
enough money to pay bail
而把他们关进监狱,
极不道德的一件事。
immoral things we do as a society.
and counterproductive.
holding people in jail cells
is it doesn't make us any safer.
这并不能让我们更加安全。
that holding somebody in jail
to commit a crime when you get out
have known that for generations.
to buy their loved ones freedom
and jail cells existed.
以交换他们亲人的自由。
has grown too enormous,
已经无处不在,
has been the result --
for over half my life,
thousands of clients
无法支付保释金。
enough money to pay bail.
were subsumed by questions of money,
整个美国法律制度的合法性。
of the entire American legal system.
只为说一句简单的话——
I was wrestling with over a decade ago
with my husband, David,
一边抱怨保释金的不公平。
and venting about the injustice of it all
our clients out of jail?"
Freedom Fund was born.
that told us we were crazy
to lose all of the money.
失去的保释金又不是他们的钱。
because they didn't have any stake in it.
at the end of a criminal case,
会在刑事诉讼结束之后被退回,
用这个钱支付保释金。
for more and more bail.
低收入人群支付保释金。
residents of New York City,
has exploded our ideas
如何运作的认知。
legal system itself is operated.
people come back to court.
让当事人回到法庭的动机。
代付了保释金时,
the Bronx Freedom Fund pays bail,
出席了所有的庭审,
return for every court appearance,
因为保释金才回来的谎言。
that it's money that mattered.
that we don't need cash
of surveillance and supervision.
about when to come back to court.
什么时候应该出席法庭。
in jail on a misdemeanor,
of the Bronx Freedom Fund,
have ever received a jail sentence
locked in that jail cell.
intervened and paid his bail.
为他支付了保释金。
his case from outside.
自由基金是他的救命稻草,
Freedom Fund was a lifeline,
被关在监狱的美国人来说,
locked in jail cells,
maybe, audacious?
revolving bail-fund model
从布朗克斯发展起来的、
保释金-基金模式
of the legal system
支付保释金,
as many people as we can
还有当地社区组织合作,
and local community organizations,
设立40个站点。
in high-need jurisdictions.
我们手中的基础上。
at the end of a case.
two or three times a year,
都可以被用上两三次,
to pay bail for up to 15 people
将在未来的五年内,
and the wisdom and the leadership
人的智慧和领导力。
this injustice firsthand.
都会有一个保释金“破坏者”团队。
by a team of bail disrupters.
advocates from local communities,
来自当地社区的支持者,
被监禁的经历。
incarcerated themselves,
through the legal system,
他们所需要的资源和支持。
resources and support they may need.
disrupter in Queens County, New York.
马上就会成为一个保释金“破坏者”。
and Louisville, Kentucky.
路易斯维尔展开。
the money bail system
将对金钱保释的制度
国家层面的关键数据,
critical, national data
a better path forward
of oppression in just another form.
over the next five years,
non-governmental decarcerations
工作的经验来看,
from decades in the system:
the civil rights litigators,
媒体、慈善家、
the media, the philanthropists,
人的声音和努力。
of those who are impacted by this system.
可以终结大规模监禁。
mass incarceration.
in those jail cells,
on bail bondage, right now --
一条拯救他们的生命线。
就有了用武之地。
保释金“破坏者”们。
梦想未来,为之奋斗。
to dream big and fight hard,
are a reality in America.
在美国成为现实。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Robin Steinberg - Public defender, activistRobin Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project, a new organization designed to combat mass incarceration in the United States by disrupting the money bail system -- one person at a time. As she says: "I hate injustice and simply can't sit still when I see it."
Why you should listen
Robin Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project and a senior fellow at the UCLA Law Criminal Justice Program. As she writes: "When I started my career, all I wanted was to be a great public defender for my clients. I vowed to fight for their rights, dignity and humanity in a system that seemed intent on crushing them, their families and their communities. It was hard work, but I woke up everyday inspired and with a sense of purpose -- even when the unfairness of the system made me cry. I was doing my part in the larger struggle for social justice -- one client at a time. But the need to do more, to rethink the very nature of public defense and challenge the larger systemic issues that fueled the cycle of criminalization and poverty led me to start The Bronx Defenders in 1997. For 20 years, I worked to create a new vision of public defense, extending legal representation and advocacy beyond criminal court with the goal of breaking that cycle. That process led to the founding of several new initiatives, including Still She Rises, a public defender office dedicated exclusively to the representation of women in the criminal justice system, and The Bronx Freedom Fund, a revolving bail fund that used philanthropic dollars to pay bail for clients who couldn’t buy their freedom.
"As it turns out, what I love most is getting people out of jail so they can be home with their families and have a fighting chance in court. My new organization, The Bail Project, will take the lessons we learned in the Bronx and go to dozens of high-need jurisdictions with the goal of paying bail for 160,000 people over the next five years, disrupting the bail system, reducing the human suffering it causes and continuing the fight to decarcerate America."
Robin Steinberg | Speaker | TED.com