Illinois Politicians Seek to Change ‘Offender’ to ‘Justice-Impacted Individual’

Illinois lawmakers have approved a measure that would modify the language in state law to stop identifying certain people who have committed a crime as offenders. On May 21, the Illinois Senate passed HB 4409. Introduced by Democrat lawmakers, the bill amends the Illinois Crime Reduction Act of 2009, replacing the term “offenders” with “justice-impacted individuals” in the state’s “Adult Redeploy Illinois” (ARI) program. The ARI initiative seeks to divert some offenders from prison to rehabilitation centers. During a Senate hearing, Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago), who sponsored the legislation, defined a justice-impacted individual as someone who has been “impacted by the criminal justice system and is an individual.”...