不堪安全焦虑，旧金山选民罢免地区检察官(上)

United States

美国版块

Chesa Boudin

凯萨·布丁

The city by the Bay says nay

海湾城市说不

San Franciscos fire their progressive district attorney

旧金山罢免他们进步派的地方检察官

Before Chesa Boudin was sworn in as San Francisco’s district attorney in January 2020, he once served as a translator for Hugo Chavez, the autocratic former president of Venezuela, and co-wrote a book about the Bolivarian revolution.

在2020年1月切萨·布丁宣誓就任旧金山地区检察官之前，他曾担任委内瑞拉独裁前总统乌戈·查韦斯的翻译，并与人合著了一本关于玻利瓦尔革命的书。

Now Mr Boudin has experienced his own revolt -- by voters.

现在，布丁先生也经历了选民的反抗。

On June 7th a majority of San Francisco voters decided to “recall” him from office.

6月7日，旧金山的大多数选民决定“罢免”他的职务。

The mayor will appoint an interim district attorney, with a permanent replacement elected in November.

市长将任命一名临时地区检察官，并在11月选出永久继任者。

What may sound like a provincial spat is anything but.

这可能听起来像是一个地方性的争议，但事实并非如此。

This was a litmus of values in a city that has always been on the bleeding edge of social and political change.

对于一座一直处于社会和政治变革前沿的城市来说，这是一块价值观的试金石。

In 2019, when Mr Boudin was campaigning as a progressive promising to revolutionise criminal justice, his offbeat pedigree was an asset.

2019年，当布丁以一名进步人士的身份参加竞选时，他承诺要改革刑事司法，他与众不同的血统是一种优势。

He is a Rhodes scholar, a former public defender and the son of two members of the leftist Weather Underground, who were sentenced to prison for their role as getaway drivers in an armed robbery that led to two police officers and a security guard being killed.

他是罗兹学者，前公设辩护人，父亲是左翼组织“地下气象”的两名成员之一，他们曾在一次武装抢劫中作为司机逃逸，导致两名警察和一名保安死亡，被判入狱。

Mr Boudin promised to end cash bail and put fewer people in jail.

布丁承诺终止现金保释，并减少入狱人数。

Prosecutions have indeed fallen since he took office.

自他上任以来，起诉人数确实有所下降。

If he did what he said he would, why did he come under fire?

如果他言而有信，为什么会受到攻击？

His rhetoric and brash manner alienated many from the start.

他的言辞和傲慢态度从一开始就疏远了许多人。

At his election-night party in 2019, people lashed out at the Police Officers Association, chanting “Fuck the poa”, which had spent heavily to try to defeat Mr Boudin.

在2019年的选举之夜派对上，人们猛烈抨击警察协会，高呼“去他妈的POA”，该协会曾斥巨资试图击败布丁。

Since then, the relationship between Mr Boudin’s office and the police has been about as cosy as an old jail cell on Alcatraz.

从那时起，布丁的办公室和警方之间的关系就像恶魔岛上的旧牢房一样融洽

Morale in the district attorney’s office is “terrible”, says Michael Swart, one of seven prosecutors Mr Boudin fired after assuming office.

布丁上任后解雇的七名检察官之一迈克尔·斯沃特说，地区检察官办公室的士气“很糟糕”。

By October 2021, 59 attorneys, or around 40% of the prosecutors in his office, had either quit or been sacked.

到2021年10月，59名律师，约占他办公室检察官总数的40%，要么辞职，要么被解雇。

Some who have worked with Mr Boudin felt he was too quick to side with defendants, when his job was to prosecute crimes and represent victims.

一些与布丁共事过的人认为，当他的工作是起诉犯罪和代表受害者时，他太快站在被告一边了。

The recall campaign gained steam after a few incidents in which his office’s choice not to keep people in jail carried deadly consequences.

在几起事件发生后，罢免运动的势头增强，在这些事件中，他的办公室选择不把人关在监狱里带来了致命的后果。

One paroled felon stole a car, drove while drunk and killed two young women crossing a street (earlier that year the man had been arrested five times, and each time the district attorney’s office had declined to file charges).

一名被假释的重刑犯偷了一辆车，酒后开车，杀害了两名过马路的年轻女子(当年早些时候，这名男子被逮捕了五次，每次地区检察官办公室都拒绝提出指控)。

The degraded state of San Francisco has left a lot of inhabitants angry -- and blaming Mr Boudin.

堕落的旧金山让很多居民感到愤怒，并指责布丁。

“People are really sick of living in chaos,” says Michael Shellenberger, author of a book, “San Fransicko”, which argues that progressives are mishandling cities, who ran unsuccessfully for governor as an independent.

《旧金山》一书的作者迈克尔·谢伦伯格说：“人们真的厌倦了生活在混乱中。”这本书认为，进步派对城市处理不当，他们以无党派人士的身份竞选州长失败。

Downtown, drugstores have closed or refused to stock goods on shelves, due to shoplifting.

由于商店行窃，市中心的药店已经关闭或拒绝进货。