“牢有所養(yǎng)”？

“牢有所養(yǎng)”？

退休慣犯正造成日本監(jiān)獄系統(tǒng)面臨預算危機，學者稱，這些滿頭銀發(fā)的壞蛋迫切希望坐牢：只需偷竊一份200日元的三明治，就可以“減少生活成本”，在牢中換取兩年的有期徒刑，同時給國家?guī)?40萬日元的成本。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

budgetary crisis 預算危機

shoplift 入店行竊['?ɑpl?ft]

convict 宣告…有罪[k?n'v?kt]

recidivism 再犯，累犯[r?'s?d?v?z?m]

geriatric 老人的；老年醫(yī)學的[,d?er?'?tr?k]

ratio 比率，比例['re?????]

vicious 惡毒的；惡意的['v???s]

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Japan’s elderly turn to life of crime to ease cost of living （475words）

By Leo Lewis in Tokyo

* * *

Japan’s prison system is being driven to budgetary crisis by demographics, a welfare shortfall and a new, pernicious breed of villain: the recidivist retiree. And the silver-haired crooks, say academics, are desperate to be behind bars.

Crime figures show that about 35 per cent of shoplifting offences are committed by people over 60. Within that age bracket, 40 per cent of repeat offenders have committed the same crime more than six times.

There is good reason, concludes a report, to suspect that the shoplifting crime wave in particular represents an attempt by those convicted to end up in prison — an institution that offers free food, accommodation and healthcare.

The mathematics of recidivism are gloomily compelling for the would-be convict. Even with a frugal diet and dirt-cheap accommodation, a single Japanese retiree with minimal savings has living costs more than 25 per cent higher than the meagre basic state pension of Y780,000 ($6,900) a year, according to a study on the economics of elderly crime by Michael Newman of Tokyo-based research house Custom Products Research.

Even the theft of a Y200 sandwich can earn a two-year prison sentence, say academics, at an Y8.4m cost to the state.

The geriatric crime wave is accelerating, and analysts note that the Japanese prison system — newly expanded and at about 70 per cent occupancy — is being prepared for decades of increases. Between 1991 and 2013, the latest year for which the Ministry of Justice publishes figures, the number of elderly inmates in jail for repeating the same offence six times has climbed 460 per cent.

The surging rates of crime among the elderly disguise a darker trend than mere contempt for the law, say economists and criminologists. Retiree crime is rising more quickly than the general demographic ascent into old age that will put 40 per cent of the Japanese population over 65 by the year 2060.

Akio Doteuchi, a senior researcher on social development at the NLI Research Institute in Tokyo, expects the ratio of repeat offenders to continue rising.

“The social situation in Japan has forced the elderly into the need to commit crime,” he says. “The ratio of people who receive public assistance is highest since the end of the war. About 40 per cent of the elderly live alone. It’s a vicious circle. They leave prison, they don’t have money or family so they turn immediately to crime.”

The crime figures, he adds, expose the strained calculus of the government’s welfare spending as the world’s second-biggest economy ages. Prison, no matter how the spreadsheets are run, is a woefully inefficient way for the government to target welfare spending at those who most need it.

Attempts to find ways to release elderly prisoners early have encountered insurmountable legal problems, Mr Doteuchi says, and the prison system as a whole will eventually be overrun by elderly inmates.

請根據你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

1. Which one is not mentioned as a reason to cause budgetary crisis for Japan’s prison system?

a. demographics

b. a welfare shortfall

c. changes in the law

d. the recidivist retiree

2. What facility the prison does not offer?

a. offers free food

b. accommodation

c. healthcare

d. medical insurance

3. How many years should the people be in prison, if they steal a Y200 sandwich?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 8

d. 0.5

4. What's the percent of the Japanese population over 65 by the year 2060?

a. 40%

b. 65%

c. 70%

d. 40%

[1] 答案c. changes in the law

解釋：日本的監(jiān)獄系統(tǒng)正因人口結構、福利缺口以及退休慣犯而陷入預算危機。

[2] 答案d. medical insurance

解釋：監(jiān)獄提供免費食物、住宿以及醫(yī)療服務，但沒有提到醫(yī)療保險。

[3] 答案b. 2

解釋：學者們表示，即使是偷竊一份200日元的三明治，就可以換取兩年的有期徒刑，給國家?guī)?40萬日元的成本。

[4] 答案a. 40%

解釋：經濟學家和犯罪學家稱，老年人犯罪率上升掩飾了一個比單純蔑視法律更加陰暗的趨勢。退休人員犯罪的上升速度超過人口老齡化趨勢——到2060年40%的日本人年齡將在65歲以上。