【中美创新时报2024 年 12 月 2 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周日晚上，乔·拜登总统赦免了他的儿子亨特，免除了他因吸食可卡因成瘾而被判重罪的可能监禁，一些参与当地康复和刑事司法社区的人看到了一个熟悉的场景：一个有着强大关系的白人获得了有色人种很少得到的第二次机会。《波士顿环球报》记者Anjali Huynh 和 Katie Johnston对此作了下述报道。
对于马萨诸塞州囚犯法律服务社区联络员 Mac Hudson 来说，总统的行为表明了“白人特权是什么”。哈德森被监禁 30 多年，目前专注于解决刑事司法系统中的种族不平等问题，他说拜登“毫无羞耻地”使用了这一特权。
“当你看到这种公然的行为时，这对我们这些一直在为基本权利而战的黑人和棕色人种意味着什么？”身为黑人的哈德森说道。
亨特·拜登因在与毒瘾作斗争期间从事的活动而被判联邦重罪税和枪支指控，面临牢狱之灾。赦免令免除了这两项定罪，以及 2014 年至 2024 年的任何其他联邦罪行。在这样做的过程中，总统违背了之前的承诺，即在他儿子即将接受惩罚的几周前，他不会干涉这些案件。
拜登辩称，他儿子的定罪主要是出于政治原因。但许多批评拜登决定的人，包括一些民主党同僚，都表示拜登的举动是虚伪的，因为拜登曾多次抨击当选总统唐纳德·特朗普在竞选连任期间对司法系统的批评。
刑事司法改革倡导者还指出，有色人种的监禁率高于白人，他们批评拜登没有利用赦免权帮助其他因毒品相关罪行被定罪的人。
马尔伯勒民主党州参议员杰米·埃尔德里奇担任参议院刑事司法改革核心小组主席，他说拜登的决定“让所有民主党人更难表明，尤其是对我们的司法系统来说，如果有人被定罪，他们的正义就需要得到伸张。”
“父亲对儿子的同情心是无可比拟的，”埃尔德里奇补充道，“乔·拜登是总统，有数以万计被判犯有联邦罪行的人等待了数年，甚至数十年，才获得赦免或减刑。”
埃尔德里奇批评拜登在减刑方面“远远落后于”他的前任。除了发布全面的声明（例如赦免数千名根据联邦法律被判犯有大麻罪的人）外，总统赦免的次数比特朗普或前总统巴拉克·奥巴马都要少。许多即将离任的总统往往在任期即将结束时更多地使用这种权力。
在拜登赦免儿子的几周前，由众议员阿亚娜·普雷斯利共同领导的数十名国会议员致信拜登，敦促他在最后几周使用赦免权，为广大狱中人士提供赦免和减刑。信中说，此举将“纠正国会通过的不公正和不必要的刑法以及法官做出的严厉判决。”
普雷斯利在周一的一份声明中重申了这些呼吁，他说：“今天，我想到成千上万对社会没有威胁的人，他们的生活因美国的大规模监禁危机和不公正的刑事法律制度而恶化。”
61 岁的托马斯·伯恩斯 (Thomas Burns) 表示，对于有权势的白人男性来说，几乎毫发无损地度过刑事定罪是“理所当然的”，他在新贝德福德经营一家咨询公司，为处理心理健康和成瘾问题的人提供服务，其中许多人已被监禁。伯恩斯指出，特朗普有 34 项重罪，而大多数有犯罪记录的人多年来“陷入困境”，努力寻找住房和体面的工作，直到他们有资格封存犯罪记录。
伯恩斯表示，他并不责怪拜登总统赦免他的儿子，但他也认识到，对于大多数人来说，这种赦免是遥不可及的。
“任何一个头脑正常的人，即使自己是美国总统，也不会让自己的儿子处于那种境地，”伯恩斯说，他是一名黑人，曾因吸毒而卷入刑事司法系统。“而美国总统通常是有权有势的白人。”
过去十年来，马萨诸塞州的监禁率已降低近一半，但该州的种族差距仍在继续扩大，这与全国趋势相呼应，有色人种的监禁率远高于白人美国人。
根据 MassINC 和波士顿指标 2024 年的报告，2017 年至 2021 年，马萨诸塞州各种族的监禁率均有所下降，但白人的监禁率下降幅度最大。黑人居民的监禁率一直是所有种族群体中最高的。报告发现，2022 年，黑人被监禁的可能性是白人的七倍多。
毒品量刑方面的差异尤其普遍。例如，可卡因和粉状可卡因的量刑差异在很大程度上导致黑人因吸毒而被监禁的比例高于白人。
尽管一些倡导者表示，刑事司法系统最近对与毒瘾作斗争的人表现出了更大的理解，但尽管州立法机构于 2018 年通过了旨在建立“更公平”系统的全面刑事司法改革立法，但这些趋势仍在继续。该法律包括废除或缩小毒品定罪强制最低刑期的措施。
新贝德福德社会正义行动联盟的联合创始人马琳·波洛克 (Marlene Pollock) 表示，犯罪活动往往源于毒瘾，该联盟致力于帮助面临监禁和毒瘾问题的人。
“试图偷窃以获得买毒品的钱，或者偷毒品本身。 “这很常见，”波洛克说，他是立法委员会成员，正在推动“清白记录”计划，该计划旨在自动封存符合条件的人的犯罪记录。
很容易对一个人的生活造成很大的伤害。2018 年之前，在马萨诸塞州，偷窃价值 250 美元的物品的人就可能被指控犯有重罪。现在的门槛是 1,200 美元。
波琳·奎里翁 (Pauline Quirion) 是波士顿大法律服务中心的工作人员，也是马萨诸塞州一个呼吁提供更多赦免补助金的工作组的主席，她说，赦免“旨在成为一个安全阀，让人们得到一些解脱，让他们能够继续他们的生活。”
然而，她说，谁能得到赦免的政治问题更加复杂。财富和种族是渗透到刑事司法系统各个层面的因素。对于有色人种和来自社会经济地位较低的人，“有一个压迫系统，你会受到更严厉的打击。”
囚犯法律服务倡导者哈德森表示，虽然他对拜登迄今为止在刑事司法方面的记录“并不满意”，但他儿子的赦免可能是一个取得进展的机会。
“如果他有兴趣，他可以做的是为那些现在被监禁的人创造同样的救济，赦免其中一些人在可卡因时代被定罪，当时黑人和棕色人种被过度定型，人们受到了过重的刑罚，”哈德森说。
“据我所知，他还没有就这一点采取行动。但他在这方面已经取得了进展。”
题图：7 月，拜登总统、他的妹妹瓦莱丽和他的儿子亨特在白宫南草坪。Demetrius Freeman/华盛顿邮报
附原英文报道：
Biden’s pardon of his son exudes ‘white privilege,’ local advocates say
By Anjali Huynh and Katie Johnston Globe Staff,Updated December 2, 2024
President Biden, his sister Valerie, and his son, Hunter, on the South Lawn of the White House in July.Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
When President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing him from a possible prison sentence for felony convictions tied to his crack cocaine addiction, some involved in the local recovery and criminal justice communities saw a familiar scenario: A white man with powerful connections receiving a second chance that people of color rarely get.
To Mac Hudson, community liaison for Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, the president’s actions demonstrated “what it is to have white privilege.” Biden used that privilege “unashamedly” said Hudson, who was incarcerated for more than 30 years and now focuses on addressing racial inequities in the criminal justice system.
“When you see that type of flagrant exercise, what does it say to us, the Black and brown folks who are fighting constantly just for basic fundamental rights?” said Hudson, who is Black.
Hunter Biden had been facing prison time after being convicted of federal felony tax and gun charges for activities stemming from a time when he struggled with drug addiction. The pardon forgave both convictions, as well as any other federal offenses from 2014 through 2024. In doing so, the president went back on previous pledges that he would not interfere with the cases weeks before his son was set to face punishment.
Biden argued that his son’s convictions were handed down largely because of politics. But many critics of his decision, including some fellow Democrats, said they saw his move as hypocritical, after Biden repeatedly blasted President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of the legal system during his re-election bid.
Criminal justice reform advocates also pointed to the higher rates of incarceration for people of color compared to white people, in criticizing Biden for not using his clemency power to help others convicted of drug-related crimes.
State Senator Jamie Eldridge, a Marlborough Democrat who chairs the Senate’s criminal justice reform caucus, said Biden’s decision “makes it harder for all Democrats to make the point, especially for our court system, that if someone is convicted, that their justice needs to be carried out.”
“As compassionate as a father is for a son,” Eldridge added, “Joe Biden is the president, and there are tens of thousands of people who have been convicted of federal offenses who have been waiting for years, in many cases decades, for pardons or commuting their sentences.”
Eldridge criticized Biden for being “fairly behind” his predecessors in issuing commutations. Beyond issuing sweeping proclamations, such as one pardoning thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law, the president has granted clemency fewer times than either Trump or former President Barack Obama. Many outgoing presidents tend to use such powers more toward the end of their term.
Biden’s pardon of his son came a couple of weeks after dozens of members of Congress, co-led by Representative Ayanna Pressley, sent a letter to Biden urging him to use his clemency power in his final weeks to grant pardons and commutations for broad classes of people behind bars. Such a move, the letter said, would “rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges.”
In a statement Monday, Pressley renewed those calls, saying, “Today, I’m thinking of the hundreds of thousands of people who pose no threat to society and whose lives are deteriorating due to America’s mass incarceration crisis and unjust criminal legal system.”
The ability to survive criminal convictions virtually unscathed is “par for the course” for powerful white men, said Thomas Burns, 61, who runs a consulting firm in New Bedford for people dealing with mental health and addiction issues, many of whom have been incarcerated. Trump has 34 felonies, Burns noted, while most people with criminal records are “stuck in limbo” for years, struggling to find housing and decent jobs until they’re eligible to have their criminal records sealed.
Burns said he doesn’t blame President Biden for pardoning his son, but recognizes how out of reach that reprieve is for most people.
“No one in their right mind would leave their son in that situation if they were president of the United States,” said Burns, who is Black and was involved in the criminal justice system related to his drug addiction. “And it’s usually powerful white men who are the president of the United States.”
Massachusetts has cut its incarceration rate by nearly half over the past decade, but racial disparities have continued to widen in the state, mirroring national trends in which people of color have been incarcerated at much higher rates than white Americans.
Between 2017 and 2021, incarceration rates fell across racial lines in Massachusetts, but white incarceration rates declined the most, according to a 2024 report by MassINC and Boston Indicators. Black residents have consistently been incarcerated at the highest rate of any racial group. In 2022, Black people were more than seven times more likely to be incarcerated than white people, the report found.
Disparities have been especially prevalent in drug sentencing. Sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine, for example, heavily contributed to Black Americans being disproportionately incarcerated for drug use compared to white Americans.
Although some advocates say the criminal justice system has recently shown a much greater understanding of people struggling with addiction, those trends have continued despite the state Legislature passing sweeping criminal justice reform legislation in 2018 aimed at creating a “more equitable” system. That law included measures to repeal or narrow mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions.
Criminal activity often stems from addiction, said Marlene Pollock, cofounder of the Coalition for Social Justice Action in New Bedford, which works with people facing incarceration and addiction issues.
“Trying to steal to get the money to get the drugs, or steal the drugs themselves. It’s quite common,” said Pollock, who is on the legislative committee pushing for the Clean Slate initiative to automatically seal people’s criminal records when they become eligible.
And it doesn’t take much to cause a lot of damage to a person’s life. Before 2018, people who stole as little as $250 worth of goods could be charged with a felony in Massachusetts. Now the threshold is $1,200.
Pauline Quirion, who works with Greater Boston Legal Services and chaired a Massachusetts task force that called for more clemency grants, said clemency is “intended to be a safety valve and to give people some relief so that they can move forward with their lives.”
The politics of who gets pardons, however, are more complicated, she said. Wealth and race are factors that permeate every level of the criminal justice system. For people of color and those from lower socioeconomic classes, “there’s a system of oppression in which you get whacked harder.”
Hudson, the Prisoners’ Legal Services advocate, said that while he was “not impressed” by Biden’s record on criminal justice so far, his son’s pardon could present an opportunity to make progress.
“What he could do, if he was interested, is create that same relief for those who are incarcerated right now, to pardon some of these folks who were convicted at a time when the crack-cocaine era was overly stereotyping Black and brown folks and people received excessive sentences,” Hudson said.
“From my understanding, he ain’t moved on that yet. But he’s moved on this.”
