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Subject: подучетный контингент Please, help to translate.Phrase is used in the following sentence: «Нет профилактики преступлений в сфере семейно-бытовых отношений, недостаточным остается контроль за подучетным контингентом», - заявил прокурор. Thanks in advance |
| monitored persons / individuals IMHO |
| the monitored group |
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Alex,operator, and anyone else, The expressions "monitored persons' and "monitored group" don't really sound quite right in English. Could these persons possibly be the "unwanted element" of society? (That is, addicts, alcoholics, ex-cons, muggers, and other criminals.) Perhaps "criminal element" also might work. These would be more vernacular expressions in English. What do you think? Бэкки |
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link 9.12.2005 14:57 |
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Is political correctness still in place? Then, I guess you cannot use "criminal element" and, especially, "unwanted". This looks like an official text, a law enforcement officer speaking. He really means those who are on police record and whom the police are monitoring, but no more than that, they are not necessarily criminals. |
| "Domestic violence and crime prevention does not exist, there is lack of control over the supervised group", the prosecutor stated. |
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Thank you, again, friends! I now understand who these people are. "Supervised group" also is not something we would normally say in English. "Political correctness" usually applies specifically to issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation, so it would not apply here. "The unwanted element" of society is a VERY common expression in American English. If you "Google" it, you will find lots of hits for it. The police often keep "the unwanted element" under surveillance. I now understand what the Russian means, but the key is finding a translation that is good English, not good Russian. I think "unwanted element" is definitely the choice here. It includes both the criminal element (ex-cons, muggers, drug dealers) and the non-criminal element (alcoholics, etc.). Thanks to you all for clarifying this matter for me. You are a BIG help! Бэкки |
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link 9.12.2005 16:13 |
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If "unwanted element" is a conventional term, not offending for those people, or you do not care about their feelings, then it may fit. In Russian, the key idea in подУЧЕТный is УЧЕТ, i.e. accounting, record-keeping, etc. You may wish to try to find out what is the collective name in English for people who are on police record for both criminal and non-criminal reasons. If there is a term, please mention it here. |
| After consulting with police officers and other translators, the consensus is that "undesirables" or "criminals and other undersirables" are the closest translations. We don't really have an analogous group, since our police do not monitor alcoholics and other NON-criminals. These people only are of interest to the police if they commit a crime. Being "drunk and disorderly" and DUI ("driving under the influence") are crimes, but if someone is simply drunk and not causing any trouble, the police would either ignore them or escort them safely home. They would NOT be on any police records. Only those who have been arrested would be on record. However, since most communities don't want drunks, bums, or even homeless people in their neighborhoods, these people would be called "undesirables" -- that is, not criminals, but still not wanted. I hope this will help other translators. |
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link 13.12.2005 18:13 |
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This is really a valuable piece of information. Actually, in this country the police do not monitor people just because of their habit to overindulge in drinking (it would mean too much work for the police, including monitoring themselves). Their "monitored contingent" mostly includes those who have been convicted before or those against whom criminal charges were raised in the past but the case did not go to court (I know that would not be considered fair in the UK). Anyhow, for translators, it is good to know that "undesirables" is the right word to be understood clearly outside Russia. Thank you very much. |
| Анатолий, Вы сейчас пошутили? |
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link 13.12.2005 18:36 |
| Да я практически всегда шучу, а что? |
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Тогда LOL! :-)))))) |
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