Are criminal justice labels insensitive? News organization asks its readers
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Readers regularly write the Marshall Project to object to terms such as “inmate” and “parolee” as insensitive.
The news organization, which covers the criminal justice system, says advocates who object to the terms believe they label people in a way that is dehumanizing.
Among those raising the issue are Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and Eric Waters of the Osborne Association, which helps former prisoners re-enter society, the Marshall Project reports.
In his book, Just Mercy, Stevenson says labels, including “criminal,” “murderer” and “felon,” reduce people to their worst acts. The identities stick even when people try to improve their lives, he says.
Osborne says his group is trying to eliminate use of “the oftentimes dehumanizing language of the criminal justice system” that defines people by status, including words such as “probationer,” “prisoner” and “defendant.”
“We talk about people, people convicted of crimes, people involved in the criminal justice system, people in prison, people on parole, etc.,” Osborne says.
The Marshall Project is asking its readers to weigh in with their preferred name for people in prison. Choices are “prisoner,” “inmate,” “incarcerated person” or “other.”
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