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Justice Department program to no longer use ‘disparaging’ terms ‘felons’ and ‘convicts’
Washington Times ^ | Andrea Noble

Posted on 05/04/2016 4:59:14 PM PDT by mandaladon

The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs is eschewing the terms “felon” and “convict” when officials refer to individuals convicted of crimes, opting instead for less “disparaging labels,” Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason announced Wednesday.

The Office of Justice Programs plans to substitute terminology such as “person who committed a crime” and “individual who was incarcerated” in speeches and other communications as part of an effort to remove barriers that officials say hinder progress of those who re-enter society after completing their prison sentences.

“I have come to believe that we have a responsibility to reduce not only the physical but also the psychological barriers to reintegration,” Ms. Mason wrote Wednesday in a guest post for The Washington Post. “The labels we affix to those who have served time can drain their sense of self-worth and perpetuate a cycle of crime, the very thing reentry programs are designed to prevent.”

The announcement follows a series of initiatives introduced as part of the Justice Department’s first National Reentry Week, through which law enforcement officials hope to reduce recidivism by revamping aspects of the criminal justice system.

A criminal record can prevent people from obtaining employment, housing, higher education or credit, the Justice Department noted.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bhodoj; convict; elections; felon; language; looneyleft; trump
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To: mandaladon

When do they start referring to the victims as “enablers”?


21 posted on 05/04/2016 5:08:01 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: mandaladon

“Dindu’er” then.


22 posted on 05/04/2016 5:09:30 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Lizavetta

I suppose rapists will now be called “Spurned Lovers?” And murderers will be called “Euthanasia Engineers?”

America has become silly.


23 posted on 05/04/2016 5:09:35 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: mandaladon

Since they aren’t putting them in jail anymore I don’t see how “individual who was incarcerated” works. How about “individual who should have been incarcerated but was not”?


24 posted on 05/04/2016 5:10:13 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: mandaladon

Hahahaha. Why not just call them “rehabilitated”. Should do wonders for their self esteem.


25 posted on 05/04/2016 5:11:14 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: Psalm 144

...The terms are helpful for administrative and appellate purposes...

They are also helpful for people to know who is moving in next door.


26 posted on 05/04/2016 5:12:00 PM PDT by Sasparilla (Hillary for Prison 2016)
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To: mandaladon

Another “man caused disaster”.


27 posted on 05/04/2016 5:15:02 PM PDT by VTenigma (The Democratic party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: Sasparilla

“They are also helpful for people to know who is moving in next door.”

Indeed. “Person who spent time incarcerated” applies equally to someone who was ultimately acquitted on appeal and may be utterly innocent in fact, or “convicted pedophile”.

No way to tell which.


28 posted on 05/04/2016 5:17:20 PM PDT by Psalm 144 (That giant flushing sound is the New Whirled Order, going down the tubes.)
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To: mandaladon

“ubstitute terminology such as ‘person who committed a crime’ and ‘individual who was incarcerated’ in speeches and other communications”

How ‘bout ‘incarcerated’ or ‘Citizen’? We have no need of anything further. Prison was for paying their debt (some, at the end of a rope). Citizens have Rights and Liberty; no caste system.

One is Free or one is behind bars, there is no gradation.


29 posted on 05/04/2016 5:19:29 PM PDT by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: mandaladon

AND prisons will be known as ??????????? Some idiot in charge will come up with something equally as stupid as this...


30 posted on 05/04/2016 5:20:24 PM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: mandaladon

Jailbirds Felonious punks? Honor students??


31 posted on 05/04/2016 5:21:52 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: mandaladon


32 posted on 05/04/2016 5:21:56 PM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING ’VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: Mears

They demonize all the time honest citizens who want to practice Christianity or want to live by their moral values or want to own guns - but they are concerned about the feelings of violent criminals.


33 posted on 05/04/2016 5:22:06 PM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
You might want to rethink that post.

The thread itself illustrates the futility of expecting our reality to continue when Obama decrees that he's empowered to define what is "the right thing to do" on behalf of 320 million people.


He has neither the moral nor the legal power to do that.

and...

Nameless unaccountable bureaucrats have no authority to define the language on behalf of the same 320 million people.

Bottom line:

Obama and his Justice Department and his 90% redundant bureaucracy can just ESAD!

Just remember under this dysfunctional government, the "/sarc" note cannot be assumed as intended to be there.

34 posted on 05/04/2016 5:22:31 PM PDT by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: mandaladon
This has serious implications.

The DOJ and Progressives are continuing to change the language. Pretty soon it will discriminatory and against the law to call them "felons" or "criminals".

35 posted on 05/04/2016 5:23:18 PM PDT by Gritty (Assent to obvious lies is co-operating with evil. A society of liars is easy to control.-T.Dalrymple)
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To: mandaladon

How about murderer, rapist, thief, robber, etc.?


36 posted on 05/04/2016 5:26:52 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Bible prophesy comes true ... Hillary Benghazi Clinton is the "Whore of Babylon")
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To: Hardens Hollow

Probably not...remember how the military-speak was scrubbed of jihad, muslim, terrorist, radical islam, etc.....


37 posted on 05/04/2016 5:27:00 PM PDT by Stayfree (FlushHillary.com says "NEVER HILLARY", "NEVER HILLARY", "NEVER HILLARY")
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To: mandaladon

The doj people are the real criminals.


38 posted on 05/04/2016 5:27:15 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: mandaladon

'Entrepreneur' is good.

39 posted on 05/04/2016 5:28:42 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Psalm 144

...No way to tell which....

Currently, criminal histories list convictions as well as arrests. The difference is that adjudications after arrests generally state that there was a conviction, dismissal, or charges dropped, or no charges, and on conviction, the sentence including incarceration.


40 posted on 05/04/2016 5:30:05 PM PDT by Sasparilla (Hillary for Prison 2016)
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