San Francisco demands calling ‘convicted felons’ ‘justice involved persons’ and ‘returning residents’
San Francisco has passed legislation demanding that convicted felons be referred to as “justice-involved persons” in an attempt to sanitize the language used to describe criminals. They called for changes to words like “prisoner,” “convict,” “inmate,” or “felon” as well as drug addicts to “persons with a history of substance use.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the resolution last month, but the news is really hitting the Internet now.
Check out the Tim Pool coverage below.
The legislation states that language like “prisoner,” “convict,” “inmate,” or “felon” is “dehumanizing, serving to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal.
“We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done,” Supervisor Matt Haney told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We want them ultimately to become contributing citizens, and referring to them as felons is like a scarlet letter that they can never get away from.”
The newspaper noted an individual whose car has been broken into could well be known to police as “a person who has come in contact with a returning resident who was involved with the justice system and who is currently under supervision with a history of substance use.”
Terms changed:
“convicted felon” to “justice-involved person”
“person on parole” or “person under supervision”
juvenile “delinquent” will now be called a “young person with justice system involvement,” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”
drug addicts or substance abusers, meanwhile, will become “a person with a history of substance use.”
Convict or inmate: “Currently incarcerated person”
Violent offender: “Person convicted of a violent/serious offense”
Illegal alien: “Person” or “individual”
photo Josh Janssen via Flickr
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