John Legend Launches Campaign to End Mass Incarceration

campaign [kæmˋpen] (noun)

- (against/for sth) a series of planted activities that are intended to achieve a particular social, commercial or political aim

- an anti-coruption compaign

incarcerate  [ɪnˋkɑrsə͵ret] (verb)

- (sb, in sth) to put sb in prison or in another place from which they can't escape, same as imprison

incarceration [ɪn͵kɑrsəˋreʃən] (noun)

- noun of incarcerate

initiative  [ɪˋnɪʃətɪv] (noun)

- a new plan for dealing with a particular problem or for achieving a particular purpose (提議; 新方案)

- a government initiative to combat unemployment

correctional [kəˋrɛkʃən!] (adj)

- concerned with improving the behaviour of criminals, usually by punishing them (改造的)

- a correctional prison/institution 一個改造的監獄/機構

facility  [fəˋsɪlətɪ] (noun)

- buildings, services, equipment, etc. that are provided for a particular purpose 設備,設施

- The hotel has special facilities for welcoming disabled people. 這旅館有專供殘疾人士的設備

senator  [ˋsɛnətɚ] (noun)

- a member of senate

- Since 2000, he has served as a Democratic senator for Texas.

strike [straɪk] (verb)

- strike->struck->stricken

- strike (touch) a chord: to touch your heart ; to evoke a reatioin, response or emotion (觸動心弦)

chord [kɔrd] (noun)

- two or more notes played together (和弦;合音)

shoplifting  [ˋʃɑp͵lɪftɪŋ] (noun)

- the crime of setaling goods from a shop/store by deliberately leaving without paying for them 冒充顧客在商店行竊

forgery  [ˋfɔrdʒərɪ] (noun)

- the crime of copying memey, documents, etc. in order to cheat people  (偽造), same as fake

fraud  [frɔd] (noun)

- the crime of cheating sb in order to get meney or goods illegally. 詐欺

- She was charged with credit card fraud.

possession  [pəˋzɛʃən] (noun)

- the state of having or woning sth (擁有)

- The gang was caught in possession of stolen goods. 這夥人人贓俱獲的被逮住。 

demeanor  [dɪˋminɚ] (noun)

 - the way that sb looks or behaves 外表，風度，舉止

- He maintained a professional demeanor throughout. 他始終保持專業人才的風範

misdemeanor  [͵mɪsdɪˋminɚ] (noun)

- a crime that is not considered to be very serious (輕罪)

- an action that is bad or unacceptable, but not very serious 不正當行為

ex: youthful misdemeanor 年輕人的越軌行為

felony  [ˋfɛlənɪ] (noun)

- the act of committing a serious crime such as murder or rape (重罪)

ex: a charge of felony 對犯重罪的指控

lenient  [ˋlinjənt] (adj)

- (of a punishment or person in authority) more merciful or tolerant than expected.

- There is no need for them to be lenient, nor are they expected to close their eyes to evil practices.

Article

The Grammy-winning singer announced the multiyear initiative, FREE AMERICA, on Monday. He will visit and perform at a correctional facility on Thursday in Austin, Texas, where he also will be part of a press conference with state legislators to discuss Texas' criminal justice system.
 
"We have a serious problem with incarceration in this country," Legend said in an interview. "It's destroying families, it's destroying communities and we're the most incarcerated country in the world, and when you look deeper and look at the reasons we got to this place, we as a society made some choices politically and legislatively, culturally to deal with poverty, deal with mental illness in a certain way and that way usually involves using incarceration."
 
Legend, 36, will also visit a California state prison and co-host a criminal justice event with Politico in Washington, D.C., later this month. The campaign will include help from other artists — to be announced — and organizations committed to ending mass incarceration.
 
"I'm just trying to create some more awareness to this issue and trying to make some real change legislatively,'' he said. "And we're not the only ones. There are senators that are looking at this, like Rand Paul and Cory Booker, there are other nonprofits that are looking at this, and I just wanted to add my voice to that.''
 
Legend's speech at the Academy Awards this year struck a chord when he spoke about mass incarceration. He won the Oscar for best original song with rapper Common for "Glory'' from the film "Selma.''
 
The singer said an early victory for his campaign was the approval of Proposition 47 in California in November, which calls for treating shoplifting, forgery, fraud, petty theft and possession of small amounts of drugs — including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines — as misdemeanors instead of felonies.
 
"Once you have that tag of a felony on your name, it's hard for you to do anything,'' Legend said. "Getting those reduced to misdemeanors really impacted a lot of lives and we hope to launch more initiatives like that around the country.''

Discussion 議論

1Do you agree with John Legend’s proposition? Why or why not?

Partially agree. I agree taking shoplifting, forgery, petty theft as misdemeanors, but fraud and possession of drugs shall take the overall impacts into considerations to decide the crime is a misdemeanor or a felony.

For example, selling drugs or providing drugs to people shall be recognized as felony because this behavior may destroy one person or one family. As for fraud, it shall be judged base on the victim's loses to judeg it shall be misdemeanors or felonies.

I think if the crime influences the victim much, then it shall not be just a misdemeanor because it will be too lenieat and it is also unfair to the victim.

2What is the biggest social problem in your country?

I'm not sure, but I know murdering people, abusing children or women, fraud, food quality cheating are the common social problems in Taiwan.

3Have you listened to John Legend’s music?

No, I have never heard his music.

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arson - the crime of deliberately setting fire to sth, especially a building

arsinist - a person who commits the crime of arson

domestic/family violence - 家暴

injury