前程百利小编为大家带来托福阅读材料。文章的难词已经标示出来，希望大家可以学习到相关知识，并通过不断的阅读练习提高自己的托福阅读能力。
I read San Francisco Public Defender Christopher Hite's op-ed(opinion editorial;可理解为专栏文章) last Sunday faulting me for what he characterized as an "angry" rebuke(指责) of Contra Costa County public defender’s allegations(指控) of racism in the Contra Costa criminal justice system.
However, when someone makes false allegations against judges,probationofficers(假释官), local law enforcement and deputy district attorneys, there should be anger. When those false allegations include charges of racism, it's even more offensive and unfair, and must be challenged.
Hite claimed that I ignored the facts in my news release. The irony(讽刺之处)is that I was criticizing Public Defender Robin Lipetsk for her failure to provide any facts supporting her claims of racism in our local criminal justice system.
For example, Lipetsk stated that "every day" our Contra Costa judges treat her clients of color(有色人种) in disparate(截然不同的) ways based on their race. The fact is our judges make thousands of decisions on criminal matters every year. I challenge Lipetsk to name(举出) one case when a local judge made decision in a criminal case based on the race of the accused.
She cannot. When people make slanderous(诽谤性的) claims with no facts to support them, is that OK? Is that right? Is that fair? Absolutely not.
I happen to agree with Hite that one should have facts to support their claims. Lipetsk does not have such facts. As Sen. Daniel Moynihan stated: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion(每个人都有权发表自己的观点), but not his own facts.”
Hite claims there is overwhelming(大量的) statistical evidence showing racism in the criminal justice system, and cites the disparity between the population of blacks and Latinos in the country (25 percent) with their percentage of the prison population (58percent) as proof.
However, those statistics by themselves don't establish(证明，证实) that racism in the criminal justice system is the cause of that disparity. He mistakenly argues that because two facts exist, one must have caused the other.(对于误把相关关系当因果关系的指责;argument非常常用)
An illustration of this common mistake is the relationship between shoe size and reading ability across the entire population. Larger shoe sizes correlate with(与……相关联) better reading ability, but this doesn’t mean large feet cause good reading skills.
Instead, the reason is that young children have small feet and haven’t been taught to read yet. Age affects reading ability, not shoe size.
In 1987, the California prison population was 35 percent black, 28percent Hispanic, and 32 percent white. In 2013, the California prison population was 23 percent black, (12 percentage-point decrease), 41 percent Hispanic, (13 percentage-point increase) and 30 percent white (little change).
If you adopt(应用) Hite's logic that racism in the criminal justice system is the cause of these disparities in the prison population, then over the last 30years, the criminal justice system has now become more racist against Hispanics and less racist against blacks.
Isn't it possible that the increased number of Hispanics incarcerated in California is a function of the 17 percent increase in the overall Hispanic population in California since 1987, rather than racism?(Hite列举数据表面监狱收押的有色人种明显多于白种人，进而以此说明司法中种族歧视的存在;本文作者反对Hite就该数据得出的结论，通过将数据细化、提供其他可能的解释，说明该数据无法证明种族歧视的存在)
Unfortunately, statistics continue to be misused(误用) to support people's political points of view. As Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”(可资借鉴的名言)
There are myriad complex societal and economic reasons that might explain the high number of minorities in the criminal justice system. To allege that those disparities are simply a result of racism by those involved in the criminal justice system isn't true, and is counterproductive to trying to actually fix the problem. (再次强调Hite的结论荒唐的同时，指出了Hite的看法更大的潜在危害)
I would welcome an independent and objective study of race in our criminal justice system, and I support the efforts of criminal justice partners to examine the issue. Perhaps those partners, including public defenders, can wait until we have the facts before they make inaccurate and slanderous accusations.
I would think the public defenders in San Francisco and Contra Costa County would agree with that principle, since I believe it is called "the presumption of innocence."(无罪推定原则，疑罪从无)
以上就是前程百利小编为大家带来的托福阅读材料，平时的阅读练习是托福考试阅读备考的重要一环。希望大家利用好每份材料，尽可能多地从中获取知识。预祝大家托福考试取得好成绩。
