Illinois Lawmakers Pass Bill To Reclassify 'Offenders' as 'Justice-Impacted Individuals'

llinois lawmakers this week passed a bill that would redesignate some "offenders" as "justice-impacted individuals" in state law, drawing criticism from Republicans.

The proposed law, House Bill 4409, would replace the term "offenders" with "justice-impacted individuals" in referring to men and women enrolled in the state's "Adult Redeploy Illinois" initiative, which aims to keep some offenders out of prison by sending them to rehabilitation programs. The bill's sponsor, state representative Kelly Cassidy (D.), said that the "offender" label "does not seem appropriate for a system in which we intend to return people to full participation in society," Chicago's WGN9 reported.

The change comes as agencies under the Biden administration have called for more "inclusive" language in referring to criminals. The Air Force Academy in 2022 barred cadets from using the word "terrorists," the Washington Free Beacon reported. Biden's Department of Homeland Security in 2021 asked officials to stop using terms such as "illegal alien" and instead opt for "undocumented individual" and "undocumented noncitizen," according to Fox News.