The far-left group FWD.us believes it is time to remove the words “felon” and “offender” from criminal justice vocabulary, contending the terms “bias the public against criminal justice reform and make more freedom less possible.”
The organization, which claims “our harmful immigration and criminal justice systems have locked too many people out from the American dream,” released a research report about what Felicity Rose, Director of Research and Policy for Criminal Justice Reform, described as the “importance of #PeopleFirst language when referring to people involved in the CJ system.”
“New public opinion research shows that labels like ‘felon’ and ‘offender’ are not neutral and bias news consumers against reform,” she claimed:
“Formerly incarcerated people and other advocates have long called on the media to stop using the dehumanizing jargon of the criminal justice system and commit to people first language,” the People First report reads, claiming “many journalists have stopped using harmful terms such as ‘convict’ or ‘criminal’ as a result”:
Despite this progress, the vast majority of news outlets continue to use dehumanizing labels such as “inmate,” “offender,” and “felon” in their criminal justice reporting. Even when journalists aim to shine a light on injustice or expose abuses of power, they legitimize the failing criminal justice system when they use these harmful terms to describe the subjects of their stories.
To better understand the impact and scope of these word choices, FWD.us convened an advisory council of the leaders and organizations that for more than two decades have been calling on the press to use people first language. With the support and guidance of the advisory council, FWD.us conducted original quantitative and qualitative research to document
trends in how the press describes people directly impacted by the criminal justice system and the effect
of their language choices on public opinion.The findings from our study confirm that while some progress has been made, dehumanizing labels are still
widely used by leading newspapers, and the use of these terms biases readers against directly impacted
people and criminal justice reform. Public opinion research conducted by Benenson Strategy Group, in partnership with FWD.us, shows that labels such as “felon,” “offender,” and “inmate” are not neutral descriptors; failing to use people first language perpetuates false and dangerous stereotypes, artificially inflates support for mass incarceration, and
dampens the impact of much-needed critiques.
The report concludes terms “felon,” “inmate,” “convict,” and “offender” were “designed to brutalize people inside the system and banish them from life outside of it.”
The report added the movement is “gaining steam” and concluded the data shows that media “cannot wait any longer to refer to people as anything other than people.”