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.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors quietly passed the resolution last month with a unanimous vote, directing all city agencies and departments to adopt its sterilized list of terms.
‘Dehumanizing language like “prisoner,” “convict,” “inmate,” or “felon” only serve [sic] to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal,’ the legislation reads.
San Francisco, struggling with an epidemic of drug addiction and homelessness, has the highest property crime rate of any big city in the U.S. according to FBI data.
Among other changes, the legislation insists that juvenile delinquents to be described as ‘young persons impacted by the justice system.’
Instead of inmates, the Board of Supervisors recommends ‘currently incarcerated persons’.
Ex-cons should be referred to as ‘returning residents,’ according to the legislation.
Rather than drug addicts, cops and prosecutors should speak of ‘persons with a history of substance use,’ the resolution decrees.
And instead of ‘citizen’ or ‘illegal alien,’ the Board of Supervisors urges the use of the words ‘person’ or ‘individual.’
The resolution, which was proposed by Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, passed the 11-member board with a 10-0 vote, with Gordon Mar absent.
The non-binding resolution was returned unsigned by Mayor London Breed.
Breed ‘doesn’t implement policies based on nonbinding resolutions, but she is always happy to work with the board on issues around equity and criminal justice reform,’ her spokesman Jeff Cretan, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
However, the San Francisco police and district attorney are already rushing to adopt the changes.
Police spokesman David Stevenson told the Chronicle that the department has ‘made our members aware of the resolution and are researching possible impacts on operations and communications.’
The language resolution makes no mention of new terms for victims of crime.
Across the Bay, Berkeley’s city government last month made a similar push to reshape the minds of citizens through new and improved language.
Berkeley City Council adopted an ordinance revising the city’s municipal code to ban ‘he’ or ‘she,’ replacing the gendered pronouns with the collective ‘they.’
The legislation, which passed unanimously among council members on its first reading, also saw the thousands of city’s manhole covers transmuted into ‘maintenance holes’.
‘Craftsmen’ will also be an accepted term no more, with the city set to instruct its workers to use the word ‘craftspeople’ instead.
Justifying the vernacular overhaul, a memo for the motion explains: ‘In recent years, broadening societal awareness of transgender and gender-nonconforming identities has brought to light the importance of non-binary gender inclusivity.
‘Therefore, it is both timely and necessary to make the environment of City Hall and the language of city legislation consistent with the principles of inclusion.’
Source: Daily Mail
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