Robin Steinberg: What if we ended the injustice of bail?
羅蘋史丹柏格: 如果我們能終止保釋的不公正會如何?
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.
I visited a client in jail.
到監獄見一位客戶的經驗。
had a sticky film on it
從盒子上撕下來的聲音。
was a small window placed too high to see.
只有高高在上的一扇小窗。
bolted to the floor
被用螺栓固定在地板上,
I understood viscerally --
as a young, public defender
年輕的公設辯護律師,
永遠不要忘記那種感覺。
ever forget that feeling.
and every one of my clients' freedom
每一位客戶的自由而戰,
to the American psyche
to imprisonment.
more people per capita
is that on any given night in America,
在美國的任何一個夜晚,
in those concrete jail cells
and sons and daughters
兒子們、女兒們
and one reason only:
the price of their freedom.
as a form of conditional release.
有條件釋放的一種形式。
that somebody could afford to pay --
負擔得起的價格,
to come back to court;
一個回到法庭的動機;
to be used as punishment.
就不是要當作懲罰。
to hold people in jail cells.
要把人拘留在監獄牢房中。
to create a two-tier system of justice:
要創造雙重的司法體制:
and one for everybody else.
另一重則是給其他人的。
in American local jails
有 75% 的人
in his South Bronx neighborhood
街坊騎著他的腳踏車,
to pick up a quart of milk.
why he was being stopped,
and the next thing he knew,
他所知道的下一件事,
your bicycle on the sidewalk
was sent to "The Boat" --
that sits on the East River
一個漁貨市場之間。
that sits out there
even for a few days.
losing custody of your children.
victimization by jail staff
including suicides,
if you're held in jail on bail,
付不起保釋金而坐牢,
to get a jail sentence
will be three times longer.
and cash bail has been set,
且已經被裁定了現金交保的金額,
to remain stuck in that jail cell
dehumanizing and violent experience.
無人性,且暴力的經驗。
that it's you stuck in that jail cell,
監獄牢房中的人是你,
the 500 dollars to get out.
and offers you a way out.
你的孩子道晚安。」
would do in that situation.
在那種情況下會做的事,
whether you did it or not.
for the rest of your life.
enough money to pay bail
immoral things we do as a society.
最不公平、不道德的事情之一。
and counterproductive.
holding people in jail cells
is it doesn't make us any safer.
這麼做並沒有讓我們更安全。
that holding somebody in jail
當一個人被關在牢裡,
to commit a crime when you get out
have known that for generations.
to buy their loved ones freedom
買回他們所愛的人的自由,
and jail cells existed.
has grown too enormous,
已經成長到太龐大,
has been the result --
有 99% 的成因——
for over half my life,
thousands of clients
enough money to pay bail.
were subsumed by questions of money,
of the entire American legal system.
I was wrestling with over a decade ago
就努力想要解決的問題,
with my husband, David,
and venting about the injustice of it all
一邊發洩抱怨這些不公正,
our clients out of jail?"
Freedom Fund was born.
點子就這麼誕生了。
that told us we were crazy
to lose all of the money.
沒有利害關係在其中。
because they didn't have any stake in it.
at the end of a criminal case,
刑事案件終了時還回來,
for more and more bail.
來做更多的保釋。
residents of New York City,
紐約市居民支付保釋金,
has exploded our ideas
legal system itself is operated.
如何運作的想法。
people come back to court.
讓大家回到法庭的原因。
the Bronx Freedom Fund pays bail,
是由布隆克斯自由基金支付時,
return for every court appearance,
that it's money that mattered.
that we don't need cash
證明我們不需要現金,
of surveillance and supervision.
about when to come back to court.
告訴我們何時要回去出庭。
in jail on a misdemeanor,
如果你是因為輕罪入獄,
of the Bronx Freedom Fund,
have ever received a jail sentence
locked in that jail cell.
intervened and paid his bail.
支付了他的保釋金。
his case from outside.
Freedom Fund was a lifeline,
布朗克斯自由基金是他的生命線,
locked in jail cells,
監獄牢房中的美國人而言,
maybe, audacious?
revolving bail-fund model
建立,且已經證實有用的
of the legal system
as many people as we can
and local community organizations,
及地方社區組織合作,
in high-need jurisdictions.
轄區內設立 40 個點。
at the end of a case.
能夠拿回來。
two or three times a year,
每一元能夠被使用 2~3 次,
to pay bail for up to 15 people
在接下來 5 年,可以被用來支付
and the wisdom and the leadership
第一手經驗到不公平的人
this injustice firsthand.
by a team of bail disrupters.
有一個保釋破壞者團隊。
advocates from local communities,
有熱忱、肯投入的擁護者,
incarcerated themselves,
through the legal system,
resources and support they may need.
disrupter in Queens County, New York.
紐約皇后區的保釋破壞者。
據點也準備營運了,
and Louisville, Kentucky.
以及肯塔基州的路易維爾。
the money bail system
critical, national data
a better path forward
才能找出更好的方式向前行,
以另一種形式重現。
of oppression in just another form.
over the next five years,
non-governmental decarcerations
from decades in the system:
the civil rights litigators,
the media, the philanthropists,
of those who are impacted by this system.
受到影響的人能發聲並貢獻心力。
mass incarceration.
就能終止大規模監禁。
in those jail cells,
而被迫坐牢的那些人,
on bail bondage, right now --
to dream big and fight hard,
敢作大夢並努力奮戰,
不論要花多少時間,
are a reality in America.
成為美國的現實。
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