文件——2022年8月10日，内布拉斯加州奥马哈市墙上可见FBI印章。FBI于12月19日星期一发出警报，称因被诱骗发送性露骨照片，导致青少年男孩在网络上被针对并被勒索金钱的案件激增。
FILE – An FBI seal is seen on a wall on Aug. 10, 2022, in Omaha, Neb. The FBI sounded the alarm Monday, Dec. 19, about an explosive increase in teenage boys being targeted online and extorted for money after being tricked into sending sexually explicit pictures.
中期选举终于结束。竞选短信已停止，攻击性广告已离开电视（以及我们的信息流），美国人终于可以把数月的政治焦虑抛诸脑后。或者，我们曾这样期待。
The midterm elections are finally over. The campaign texts have stopped, the attack ads are off the air (and our feeds), and Americans can at last put months of political angst to bed. Or, so we hoped.
又一个选举季已过去，但党派紧张情绪仍在蔓延。这并非新感受，却日益成为阻碍改善美国人生活的良策的障碍。然而，国会如今拥有一个真正的机会，将这种紧张情绪抛在一旁，通过一揽子两党法案提供有意义的公共安全解决方案。
Another election season has come and gone, but the partisan tension lingers. It isn’t a new feeling, but it is increasingly a roadblock to good policy that improves Americans’ lives. However, Congress now has a real opportunity to set that tension aside and deliver meaningful public safety solutions through a package of bipartisan bills.
参议院司法委员会主席查克·格拉斯利（共和党-爱荷华州）和排名成员迪克·杜宾（民主党-伊利诺伊州）已将一套公共安全法案作为《国防授权法案》的修正案提出。
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have offered a set of public safety bills as amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act.
他们共同展示了针对犯罪的深思熟虑、精准的做法，涉及打击网络儿童性剥削、有组织的零售犯罪以及联邦监狱中的走私。
Together, they show what a thoughtful, targeted approach to crime looks like, tackling online child sexual exploitation, organized retail crime, and contraband in federal prisons.
他们的做法是？对每个问题进行狭窄且具体的处理，使政策真正提升社区安全。法案并非为了单纯加重惩罚，而是追求与威胁相匹配的后果，并足够严厉以让肇事者为其令人发指的行为承担责任。
Their approach? Address each problem narrowly and specifically, so the policy actually moves the needle on community safety. Rather than piling on punishment for its own sake, the bills aim for consequences that fit the threat and are serious enough to hold offenders accountable for reprehensible conduct.
政府的首要职责是保护我们当中最脆弱的群体，尤其是儿童。当犯罪转移到线上时，这一责任并不会消失。性勒索是指胁迫他人发送色情图像，通常以曝光对方相威胁，任何能上网的儿童都可能成为目标。仅在2024年，联邦调查局就收到了近5.5万起性勒索投诉，比前一年激增59%。联邦法律却未能跟上步伐。拟议中的《詹姆斯·T·伍兹法案》以一名网络性勒索受害者的名字命名，将更新针对儿童性虐待材料的联邦量刑法律。
Government’s first duty is to protect the most vulnerable among us, especially children. That responsibility does not disappear when crime moves online. Sextortion, which means coercing someone into sending sexually explicit images, often by threatening to expose them, can reach any child with an internet connection. In 2024 alone, the FBI received nearly 55,000 sextortion complaints, a 59 percent jump from the year before Federal law has not kept pace. The proposed James T. Woods Act, named for a victim of online sextortion, would update federal sentencing laws for child sexual abuse material.
该法案还将设立两项新罪名，分别针对性勒索和暴力网络团伙，这类团伙胁迫儿童伤害自己或他人。目标很简单——追究施害者的责任，确保更少的儿童成为受害者。此外，守法公民和企业也不应承担有组织犯罪的代价。
It would also create two new crimes targeting sextortion and violent online networks like which coerce children into harming themselves or others. The goal is simple — hold predators accountable and ensure fewer children become victims. Additionally, law-abiding citizens and businesses also should not bear the cost of organized crime.
有组织零售盗窃不是小偷小摸，其背后是跨州运作的复杂网络，这些网络推高物价，并使员工面临风险。由于这些犯罪活动跨越多个司法辖区，联邦政府应当发挥作用。
Organized retail theft is not petty shoplifting It is driven by sophisticated networks that operate across state lines, raising prices and putting workers at risk. Because these schemes cross jurisdictions, the federal government has a role to play.
《打击有组织零售犯罪法案》将加强联邦层面的应对，具体措施包括设立跨部门工作组、改善零售商与执法部门之间的协调，并赋予当局追回被盗商品的新手段。
The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act would strengthen the federal response by creating a multi-agency task force, improving coordination between retailers and law enforcement, and giving authorities new tools to recover stolen goods.
公共安全也延伸到监狱高墙之内。监禁应当保护公众并防止进一步犯罪，而不是让罪犯有办法继续在牢房里作案。违禁手机让囚犯得以继续指挥外面的犯罪活动。
Public safety also extends behind prison walls. Incarceration should protect the public and prevent further crime, not give offenders a way to keep operating from their cells. Contraband cell phones let inmates continue directing criminal activity on the outside.
《中尉奥斯瓦尔多·阿尔巴拉蒂阻止监狱违禁品法案》将把在联邦监狱持有违禁手机从轻罪改为重罪。监狱内部发生的事情可能让人觉得看不见、想不起来。但安全、稳固的监狱对公共安全、警官安全以及司法系统的公正性至关重要。
The Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act would make possessing a contraband phone in federal prison a felony rather than a misdemeanor. What happens inside prisons can feel out of sight, out of mind. But safe, secure prisons are essential to public safety, officer safety, and the integrity of the justice system.
批评者可能会认为，这些提案只是又一次要求加重处罚，或者认为公共安全属于州和地方当局的职责，又或者认为犯罪法案不应出现在国防法案中。这些担忧值得深思熟虑地考虑，但不应让人忽视眼前的问题。网络剥削、跨州盗窃集团以及联邦监狱本质上都是联邦层面的挑战。而《国防授权法案》在过去六十多年里每年都已通过，是当今感觉陷入僵局的国会中为数不多的可靠立法载体之一。
Critics may argue these proposals are just another push for tougher penalties, that public safety belongs to state and local authorities, or that crime bills don’t belong in a defense bill. Those concerns deserve thoughtful consideration, but they should not distract from the problems at hand. Online exploitation, interstate theft rings, and federal prisons are inherently federal challenges. And the National Defense Authorization Act, which has passed every year for more than six decades is one of the few reliable vehicles in what feels like a gridlocked Congress.
真正的问题不在于一项政策听起来是否强硬，而在于它是否能针对严重犯罪行为提供有针对性、有效的回应。当今，联邦法律中存在相当大的漏洞，使儿童面临风险，让犯罪网络获利，并允许犯罪者在监狱内继续作案。这些法案将弥补这些漏洞。
The real question is not whether a policy sounds tough, but whether it offers a targeted, effective response to serious criminal conduct. Today, sizable gaps in federal law leave children exposed, let criminal networks profit, and allow offenders to keep operating behind bars. These bills close those gaps.
在对政治进程的不信任似乎达到历史最高点的气氛中，立法者应抓住每一个机会，表明保护公众是共同的优先事项。这就是其中一个机会。国会应将这份法案包保留在最终的《国防授权法案》中，不应让这个时刻溜走。蕾切尔·赖特是“右翼反犯罪”组织的全国政策主任。
In a climate in which distrust of the political process seems to be at an all-time high, lawmakers should seize every chance to show that protecting the public is a shared priority. This is one of those chances. Congress should keep this package in the final National Defense Authorization Act and not let the moment slip away. Rachel Wright is the National Policy Director for Right On Crime.