Defeating the bad guys

打败坏家伙们 （2）



副题：America's plunging『跳进的；突进的』crime rates have attracted attention across the world, not least in Britain. What's the secret?
美国犯罪率高涨不止已经引起了包括英国在内的全世界的重视。其原因何在呢？

[6]In most cities, reorganization『改组；改编』of the police force has been accompanied『伴随；陪同』by an increase in the number of policemen, which had dwindled『减少；变少』in the 1970s and 1980s. The extra numbers have usually been accompanied by a collection of policies known as "community policing". This means encouraging『鼓励；激励』officers to get out from behind their desks and on to the beat『警察的负责区域；路线』, where their visibility『明显性』will reassure the public. In some cities it has also meant officers becoming more actively involved with residents『居民』, youth organizations, schools and other local groups.

[6]大多数城市在改组警力的同时，增加了警察数量。警察人数在七八十年代均下降了。在增强警力的同时还制订了“为社区配备警察”的政策，这意味着鼓励警察走出办公室，到街头巷尾巡逻值勤。他们的出现会让公众吃下定心丸。在有些城市还意味着警官应更主动地与居民，年轻人的组织，学校和一些地方社团接触。

[7]The larger reason for the fall in crime rates, many say, is a much less sophisticated『复杂的』one. It is a fact that crime rates have dropped as the imprisonment rate『监禁率；关押率』has soared『猛增；暴涨』. In 1997 the national incarceration rate『监禁』, at 645 per 100,000 people, was more than double the rate in 1985, and the number of in mates『伙伴；结伴』in city and county jails『监狱；拘留所』rose by 9.4%, almost double its annual average increase since 1990. Surely, some criminologists『犯罪学家』claim it is precisely because more people are being sent to prison, that crime rates are falling.

[7]许多人说，犯罪率下降的主要原因是，犯罪率随着入狱率的增长而下降了。1997年，全国每10万人中就有645人锒铛入狱，比1985年增加一倍。城市囚禁人数和县城关押人数增加了9．4％，自从1990年以来，年平均增长率几乎增长了一倍。某些犯罪学家认为，由于更多的人进了监狱，犯罪率因此下降了。

[8]The fall in the crime rate has coincided『相符；一致』with a fall in the number of young men between the ages of 15 and 21, the peak age for criminal activity in any society, including American. In the same way, the rise in the crime rate that started in the early 1960s coincided with the teenage『青少年时期』years of the baby-boomers. As the boomer generation matured『成熟』, married, found jobs and shouldered mortgages, so the crime rate fell.

[8]在犯罪率下降的同时，15－21岁的年轻男子人数也下降了。在任何社会中，其中包括美国，这个年龄段都是容易违法的高峰年龄。同样的道理，早60年代初期犯罪率的上升与生育高峰期出生的孩子的青少年期的到来是相吻合的。随着这一代人的成熟，婚嫁，找到工作，承担起抵押贷款，犯罪率也就随之下降了。

【背景知识】

baby-boomers: 生育高峰期出生的孩子。二战结束后的经济繁荣造成了婴儿出生率的增长。美国人口在1940年至1950年期间增长14.5%，1950年至1965年增长28%，1930年至1945年出生人数为4150万，而1946到1961年间为6350万人。这是美国历史上出生率最高的一代，即所谓婴儿出生高峰年代。

[9]Murder rates among Americans older than 25 had already been declining since 1980. Here there may be even longer-term social factors involved. In an age of easy divorce and more casual relationships, men and women are less likely to murder their partners: The decline in alcohol consumption『消费』, too, means that fewer bar - room brawls『争吵；打架』leave a litter of corpses on a Friday night.

[9]年龄在25岁以上的美国人谋杀他人的案件自1980年以来就减少了。这里也许有长期的社会因素在里面。在离婚更容易，两性关系更随便的年月里，男女双方很少想到谋杀对方。酒类消费的下降也表明，在周末较少有酒吧间会出现因打架而弄得性命不保的情形。

[10]It seems that changing social trends also sometimes lie behind the fall in property crime. Burglars tend not to steal television sets now because almost everyone has one; their value on the street has plummeted『下降；下跌』. At the same time, the fact that people stay in watching their stay, rather than going out, deters『威慑住；吓住』would - be 『原想要做的』burglars. Extra garages are standard in the suburbs, to safeguard extra cars; credit cards mean that shoppers carry less cash in their pockets; people working from home, by means of computers, can keep a closer watch over their streets.

[10]盗窃的犯罪率下降的一个原因有时候看起来是社会趋势的改变。入室抢劫者如今不再偷窃电视机，因为现在几乎是人手一台；电视机在街头的价格一落千丈。与此同时，人们呆在家里看电视而不是外出的现象也遏制了窃贼动手的念头。郊区优质的车库使汽车安然停放；信用卡意味着购物者口袋里装的现金较少；通过电脑在家办公的人可以更加密切地盯着他们所在的街区。

[11]Lastly, people are going to greater lengths to protect themselves and their property than they did in the past. This is partly because of the huge fear of crime that preceded『高于；优于』the present decline, and partly because - even with recent increases in the number of policemen - the ratio『比例；比率』of police to violent crimes reported is still way below what it was in the 1960s.

[11]最后，人们比过去投入更大的力量来保护自己及其财产。这部分是因为人们对犯罪的巨大恐惧超过目前犯罪率的下降幅度，还有一部分是因为尽管近来警察人数增加了，据报道警察与暴力犯罪的比率仍低于60年代。

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