Criminal justice system words, including "convict," "felon," "addict" and "offender" won't be heard or seen in print now in San Francisco after the Board of Supervisors locked them up, notes Grumpy Editor.
As Phil Matier writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Going forward, what was once called a convicted felon or an offender released from jail will be a 'formerly incarcerated person,' or a 'justice-involved' person or simply a 'returning resident.' "
No more "juvenile delinquent" either. The term now will be labeled a “young person with justice system involvement” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system," points out Matier. A drug addict or a substance abuser will become “a person with a history of substance use," while a parolee and a person on criminal probation will be referred to as a “person on parole” or “person under supervision."
Supervisor Matt Haney, one of 10 supervisors who voted for the new guidelines, says, "We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done."
Matier reports that according to the recently-passed resolution,"one of five California residents has a criminal record, and words like 'prisoner,' 'convict,' 'inmate' or 'felon' 'only serve to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal.' "
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