Bizarre, Criminal law

San Francisco Declares That Convicted Felons Will Now Be Called “Returning Residents” Or “Justice-Involved Persons”

We have previously discussed how the effort to control language that has been prominent on college campuses has now spread to city and state legislation like Berkeley getting rid of “manholes” in favor of “maintanence holes.” Now San Francisco has mandated that the use of felons, offender, and criminals is no longer correct. Instead, a convicted felon will now be referred to as a “justice-involved person” or “returning resident.” A juvenile “delinquent” will now be called a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”

Given the recent wave of criminal (or “justice-involved”) activity, one would think that the Board of Supervisors would have a few more pressing matters on its hands. Yet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the leaders of the city want to reform language as a public priority.

Supervisor Matt Haney insists that the city is removing “scarlet letters” so that “people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done.” Of course, that is also a reflection of your past record.

The interesting thing is that there seems to be an effort to make the reference so awkward that people just will not refer to criminal records. They could have used a newly available word from Germany, which got rid of its longest word: Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. Now that is one no one would use for a felon.

Just image the “APB”: “All cars, all cars, be on the look out for a Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz . . . “

It is however going to cause great damage to our literary and cinematic works. “The Ordinary Decent Criminal” must now be “The Ordinary Decent Justice -Involved Person” and the classic Claude Rains film “They Made Me A Criminal” must become “They Made Me A Justice-Involved Person.”

Even famous quotes need to be changed like Marie Antoinette “I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, which can only apply to [justice-involved persons], but rather to finding your brother again.”

I would call that a crime but not in San Francisco.

88 thoughts on “San Francisco Declares That Convicted Felons Will Now Be Called “Returning Residents” Or “Justice-Involved Persons””

  1. It is an effort to eliminate personal responsibility. Nothing is your fault if you are of a certain political ideology. You are a victim. The evil white man-led Western Civilization has screwed you for so long that you have no way to move forward as a productive member of society. While I am a conservative/libertarian on many issues, I am also a classic liberal when it comes to speech and personal liberties. What is happening on the Left today seems to be some kind of psychosis. And the prostitutes that serve as the news media are only too happy to take part.

    1. Manny – you are right. The wording of this new terminology sounds like someone was just walking down the street when they were suddenly impacted by the criminal justice system.

      This sort of purge of personal responsibility also creates innate helplessness. If nothing negative is your fault, the there is also nothing you can do to repair your life.

  2. Frisco Pests. That is the term for the people who live in the whole metro area of San Francisco. If they come to a theatre near you lock your doors and turn away the whores.

  3. George Orwell said that “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity” in his essay, “Politics and the English Language.”

    And it’s a shame that Germany got rid of Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. Fortunately, there’s still Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung, which refers to a regulation requiring a prescription for an anesthetic. As Mark Twain put it, “Some German words are so long that they have a perspective.”

  4. Will folks it’s that time again. The whole town must be utterly destroyed

  5. as long as they have a place to go that isn’t where decent American Citizens live fine by me. Question? Does that include those from other areas? Immigrating Neo-Residents? Justice Involved Immigrants. Pelosians?

    How long before she gets them voting rights – and whose going to pay for the obvious way this will be used to create a false blue wave?

    The left must really be in deep trouble but you know what they deserve what they asked for when they voted in people who represent SF bu tlive in Napa Valley

    1. Michael A – did you see the video where Laura Loomer and 3 illegal aliens tried to set up camp on Nancy’s front lawn in Napa Valley? Worth its weight in gold. Laura Loomer is a National Treasure. 🙂

      1. Paul, Loomer worked for James O’Keefe at one time and then was doing video’s on her own. I think she is trying to make a run for Congress.

    1. George Carlin was an equal opportunity comedian.
      As is Jerry Seinfeld. He just recently said that it used to be that Conservatives judged people and were intolerant and told people how to live their lives………but that nowadays it’s the Liberals doing that……and he’s not sure it will ever reverse back!
      That is a powerful statement from a 65 yr old who observes society the way he does!

      1. There isn’t anyone of any persuasion who doesn’t have an opinion about how you should be living your life or a hierarchy of valued things. What differs from one age to another and from one social segment to another is the force they are willing and able to bring to bear on you. Seinfeld was born in 1954 and grew up in Brooklyn. He almost certainly has no palpable experience of ‘conservatives’ being in any position to give him much grief. The vast bulk of the complaining in my lifetime in re conservative ‘intolerance’ has concerned resistance to public money and esteem being showered on various liberal mascot groups, as well as coercive public policies meant to give said mascot groups tools to file tort suits against ordinary people going on about their business.

        1. “….should be living your life or a hierarchy of valued things”

          Feel free to wake up from your stone age slumber, Rip Van Tinkle. Nihilists, Hedonists, atheists, et al eschew a hierachy of valued things hence our current national slouching towards Gomorrah.

          But go ahead and you do you, arrogant and stupid as ever

        2. TIA X X1…………..wrong….Seinfeld was born in brooklyn. but grew up on Long Island..Montaug, I think?
          You missed my point, I believe, which is that it is very impressive that he even verbalizes that Liberals are doing anything wrong.
          That statement makes one extremely unpopular in his business.
          I had heard him say about 3 years ago that he would no longer perform at universities…….because of the PC police.
          According to his voting record, avaiable on public data.com , (the address he uses is Park Circle, West ) he voted Republican in the earlier 2000’s.
          He is a very transparent in his beliefs….and this can be seen if you watch his Netflix show, Driving in Cars with Comedians Getting Coffee………..the short discussion about Liberals and Dems was part of his Lewis Black segment.
          In another episode, you find out that he and his wife socialize alot with George Stephenapoulis(sp?) and his comedienne wife.

  8. people may not be aware but a lawyer can be disciplined by courts for using the term “illegal immigrant”

    there are now several such cases. and if you read them, it’s questionable if the usage was malicious, or just plain RELEVANT.

    now think about that. your lawyer can potentially lose his license if he calls a spade a spade in court. the term has a very real and legitimate meaning which is perfectly proper to use in certain court proceedings. but never mind that. state supreme court judges are archons of “political correctness” and nobody can gainsay them., not even the SCOTUS. this is an 11th amendment thing where the state licensing of lawyers is concerned. SCOTUS could interpret it away but they wont. because lawyers are basically slaves of government who crave their slave wages, be they small or large.

    government censorship of free speech? ha, lawyers dont have it. now you know why we use fake names here.

    trust me, when i say, if lawyers don’t have “free speech,” then you don’t really have it either. you just think you do.

    1. But…they are illegal aliens. That’s the legal term, which the DOJ recently reminded its lawyers. The Supreme Court uses the term.

      We even call non native naturalized plant species that cause environmental damage “invasive alien species”.

      “Federal immigration law uses the term “illegal alien.” For example, 8 U.S.C. §1365 is a provision that deals with a reimbursement program the federal government has for states that are incarcerating illegal aliens. Its very title refers to “illegal aliens,” and that term is used in the statute itself, which defines an illegal alien as anyone “who is in the United States unlawfully.””

      https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law

      I am suffering from manufactured crisis fatigue. Honestly, how much outrage can anyone muster at this point for using the “wrong word” as determined by a subset of the population? How entitled can you be to think you have the right to ban a word or phrase in the United States?

  9. ” Convicted Felons Will Now Be Called “Returning Residents””

    I suppose in San Fransisco homeless deposits on the sidewalks will be known as reprocessed food discharges.

      1. Yes, YNOT I wrote the above. Little do most people know YNOT is a reprocessed food discharge.

  10. The new, officially sanctioned phrases seem very passive. Like, someone was just walking along, minding their own business, when suddenly, they were impacted by the criminal justice system falling, like a piano, out of the sky.

    We are living Fahrenheit 451

  11. Liberals and Democrats will be known as Returning Certifiables and Insanity-Involved.

    God help us, please, and soon. This is not a drill!

    1. George Carlin was one of the best comics of our times. If he were still with us today, he’d be comedic gold, never to be allowed on a college campus.

      2. Karen S says: August 22, 2019 at 12:00 PM

        “George Carlin was one of the best comics of our times. If he were still with us today, he’d be comedic gold, never to be allowed on a college campus.”

        ___

        SMH

        1. You’re shaking your head because you don’t agree that “George Carlin was one of the best comics of our times”, or you don’t agree that today he would be considered comedic gold, or that you believe he would be allowed on a college campus, or just because you feel compelled to disagree with everything that Karen S posts?

      3. George Carlin in today’s time would be arrested for “Hate Speech” in any number of Blue State sh*tholes like the guy that trained Heil Hitler dog.

        The whole concept of Hate Crimes & Hate Speech is repugnant to this nation & USC.

  14. Women Against Registry advocates for the families who have loved ones required to register as sexual offenders.
    More about the issue:
    According to the NCMEC map there are over 912,000 men, women and children (as young as 8 and 10 in some states) required to register and the “crimes” range from urinating in public (indecent exposure), sexting, incest, mooning, exposure, false accusations by a soon-to-be ex-wife, angry girlfriend, or spiteful student, viewing abusive OR suggestive images of anyone 18 years old or younger, playing doctor, prostitution, solicitation, Romeo and Juliet consensual sexual dating relationships, rape, endangering the welfare of a child, the old bait-n-switch internet stings (taking sometimes 12 months before a person steps over the line) guys on the autism spectrum or with intellectual disabilities and many others.

    If you multiply the number on the registry by 2 or 3 family members you can clearly see there are well over 3 million wives, children, moms, aunts, girlfriends, grandmothers and other family members who experience the collateral damage of being murdered, harassed, threatened, children beaten, have signs placed in their yards, homes set on fire, vehicles damaged, asked to leave their churches and other organizations, children passed over for educational opportunities, have flyers distributed around their neighborhood, wives lose their jobs when someone learns they are married to a registrant….all these things occur when these people try to hold their family together and provide the three things that professionals indicate are needed for successful reintegration; a job, a place to live and a “positive” support system.
    The Supreme Court’s Crucial Mistake About Sex Crime Statistics – ‘Frightening and High’ (Debunks the 80% recidivism rate cited by now SCOTUS Justice Kennedy)

    It is very important that you read the abstract below and then the full 12 page essay by Ira Mark and Tara Ellman.
    ABSTRACT This brief essay reveals that the sources relied upon by the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, a heavily cited constitutional decision on sex offender registries, in fact provide no support at all for the facts about sex offender re-offense rates that the Court treats as central to its constitutional conclusions. This misreading of the social science was abetted in part by the Solicitor General’s misrepresentations in the amicus brief it filed in this case. The false “facts” stated in the opinion have since been relied upon repeatedly by other courts in their own constitutional decisions, thus infecting an entire field of law as well as policy making by legislative bodies. Recent decisions by the Pennsylvania and California supreme courts establish principles that would support major judicial reforms of sex offender registries, if they were applied to the facts. This paper appeared in Constitutional Commentary Fall, 2015. (Google Frightening and High)

    A study reviewing sex crimes as reported to police revealed that:
    a) 93% of child sexual abuse victims knew their abuser;
    b) 34.2% were family members;
    c) 58.7% were acquaintances;
    d) Only 7% of the perpetrators of child victims were strangers;
    e) 40% of sexual assaults take place in the victim’s own home;
    f) 20% take place in the home of a friend, neighbor or relative (Jill Levenson, PhD, Lynn University)

    There is a tremendous need to fund programs like “Stop It Now” that teaches parents how to begin and maintain a dialog with their children to intervene before harm occurs and about grooming behaviors as well as other things at age-appropriate levels in their Circles of Safety.

    Our question to the public is one of, when does redemption begin?

    We support the principles of Restorative/Transformative Justice; restore the victim, restore the offender AND restore the community.

    Lastly, our country is proud to be ‘the incarceration nation’ with 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated.

  15. Of course it won’t change their history and potential risk to their community. This is an insult to the intelligence of the community.

  16. I hope the people who are advocating this in SF have a close and personal encounter with some of these “justice involved persons”.

    But unfortunately, upper middle class liberal types have the means and education to avoid such encounters and avoid other things they foist on ordinary people.

    antonio

    1. Not always (the means/education to avoid such encounters, etc). However, it is those types that will have the money to avoid going to jail, never mind not being charged in the first place.

  18. Our society is slowly being transformed by using twisted logic to change language so no one gets offended. We use harsh language sometimes to discourage people from doing things that would bring upon them the use of those terms. I’m sure this particular change in language will make “criminals” more comfortable with what they’ve done and what some of them will continue to do. Great job San Francisco! You are officially the laughing stock of the U.S.

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