“Felon” Becomes “Justice-Involved Person” in Latest PC Insanity

Count on California to take absurdity and outlandishness to the next level, and no city in the Golden State excels at that mission better than San Francisco (with a nod of acknowledgement to Berkeley). This week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors outdid themselves, adopting language guidelines meant to re-imagine the city’s criminal element with phrases that underplay their seriousness.

Under these guidelines, words like “felon,” “offender,” “convict,” addict,” and “juvenile delinquent” will go the way of “illegal immigrant,” and they will be replaced by words every bit as ridiculous as “undocumented American.”

From 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.”

Parolees and people on criminal probation will be referred to as a “person on parole,” or “person under supervision.”

A juvenile “delinquent” will become a “young person with justice system involvement,” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”

And drug addicts or substance abusers will become “a person with a history of substance use.”

“We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done,” Supervisor Matt Haney said.

If you suddenly have a raging case of heartburn, rest assured, you’re not alone. And we fear that no amount of Tums or Pepto will be sufficient to cure this indigestion. We’re once again watching America’s nanny-class try to change our language so that it better reflects their efforts to change the system. This is how they do it, time and time again. They did it with illegal aliens, they did it with “pro-choice,” and now they’re doing it for actual criminals.

Our bile might subside if this were just about silly language shifts. But history has shown us that the left’s incessant reliance on political correctness is not without its purpose. This isn’t something innocently stupid, like saying your grandmother is “90 years young.” This matters. This impacts the way people look at political hot-button issues, and the left knows it all too well. Stop calling things by their actual name, start using idiot terms like “justice-involved person,” and before long, you can start moving the needle towards decriminalization, voting rights for the incarcerated, and any number of other bad ideas that only benefit the Democratic Party.