2005年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Away from TV, Cold Case Files Go Ignored

In spite of all the advancement¹ in law enforcement in recent decades, many murders still go unsolved. Commentator² Stacy Horn says that right now in New York you have a 40% chance of getting away with murder.

“It’s not just New York. Statistics show that every year more than a third of the murders in America go unsolved. And that has been true for decades. It is especially dramatic in New York City, where the number of murders has dropped 70%. But even as the number of murders goes down, the percentage of unsolved murders has been slowly creeping up. And they are going up everywhere. The police are getting better at preventing murder, but not at solving it. It is not that they are doing a bad job. Decades of advancement in forensic³ science, DNA⁴ analysis, more sophisticated techniques for lifting fingerprints⁵ and analysis of fibers⁶ and other trace evidence haven’t made a difference either.

What makes a murder unsolvable? It is actually painfully simple. No evidence, and no witnesses, or rather, no reliable or cooperative witnesses. All you have to do to get away with murder is shoot someone. That way you don’t get close and leave behind trace evidence. You should also shoot them outside even less trace evidence for a CSI to recover. Then use a gun that has never been used in a crime before and commit your murder in the middle of the night. Fewer witnesses. The police are stuck. They can’t go out and ask murderers to give them a break and leave more evidence behind.

“Uh, excuse me, could you please get a little closer and stab your victim during the day with lots of people around preferably a bunch of tourists with cameras? Much obliged.”

The one thing law enforcement can do about these unsolved murders is establish a cold case squad⁸. And if they already have one, fully⁷ support them. The degrading clearance⁹ rates are never going to change unless police departments start getting serious about the cases that are responsible for causing them in the first place — the cases that are going cold. And yet as fewer and fewer murders are solved and the number of cold cases increases, all around the country police departments are allowing their cold case squads¹⁰ to slowly disintegrate¹¹. Normally when police departments see an increase in crime, they send in the troops. But police departments not only need to send in the troops, they need to send in some of the best troops they have because these cases are by definition the hardest cases of all, the ones that no one else could solve. The Department of Justice gave 14 million dollars in grants to law enforcement agencies this year to conduct DNA analysis in cold cases. It is a start. While counter terrorism is very important and money and manpower should certainly go there, try telling the families of the 6000 plus murder cases that will go cold this year and every year that “solving their loved ones' murders is not important, too.”

Stacy Horn is the author of the book "The restless sleep inside New York city's cold case squad."

1 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

2 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

3 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

9 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

10 squads   

n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍

参考例句：

• Anti-riot squads were called out to deal with the situation. 防暴队奉命出动以对付这一局势。 来自辞典例句
• Three squads constitute a platoon. 三个班组成一个排。 来自辞典例句

11 disintegrate   

v.瓦解，解体，（使）碎裂，（使）粉碎

参考例句：

• The older strata gradually disintegrate.较老的岩层渐渐风化。
• The plane would probably disintegrate at that high speed.飞机以那么高速飞行也许会四分五裂。