DOJ Decides It Won’t Call People ‘Felons’ Or ‘Convicts’ Because Hurts Their Feelings

by Lisa Smith | May 5, 2016 10:30 pm

Are you kidding me?! Wow. I am really confused, why are we tip toeing around convict’s feelings? They committed a crime, end of story, that makes you a felon in the English language. A brain dead official with the Department of Justice announced that the agency will no longer call people “felons” or “convicts”, once they’re handed their get out of jail free card, because it’s too hard on them emotionally! HAH! WHO CARES?! We don’t need a bleeding heart[1] for those felons and convicts who have caused others to bleed.

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From the Daily Caller:

Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason wrote a piece in The Washington Post Wednesday saying “many of the formerly incarcerated men, women, and young people I talk with say that no punishment is harsher than being permanently branded a ‘felon’ or ‘offender.’”

Mason said the decision is not to condone their behavior, but to use words to help them reenter society.

In my role as head of the division of the Justice Department that funds and supports hundreds of reentry programs throughout the country, I have come to believe that we have a responsibility to reduce not only the physical but also the psychological barriers to reintegration. 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. In an effort to solidify the principles of individual redemption and second chances that our society stands for, I recently issued an agency-wide policy directing our employees to consider how the language we use affects reentry success.

This new policy statement replaces unnecessarily disparaging labels with terms like “person who committed a crime” and “individual who was incarcerated,” decoupling past actions from the person being described and anticipating the contributions we expect them to make when they return. We will be using the new terminology in speeches, solicitations, website content, and social media posts, and I am hopeful that other agencies and organizations will consider doing the same.

This is one of many steps the Obama administration is using to help recently released offenders. President Barack Obama announced in 2015 federal agencies would no longer ask if people were felons in the early job application steps.

Do you agree that we should stop calling convicts and felons what they are? Should we spare the feelings of the guilty and let them forget what they did?

Endnotes:
  1. We don’t need a bleeding heart: http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/04/doj-decides-it-wont-call-people-felons-or-convicts-because-hurts-their-feelings/
  2. [Image]: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/518a3878d8e57.image_.jpg

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