Probation service to stop calling criminals ‘offenders’
CRIMINALS will no longer be called “offenders” by the probation service under a move to “reset” the language and create an “inclusive culture”.
Instead, anyone under supervision will be referred to as a “person subject to probation services”.
It will cover both criminals serving community sentences for low-level offences as well as prisoners released from jail on licence.
As part of the reform, the term “offender manager” will be replaced with “probation practitioner”, while “offender management” will become “sentence management”.
HM Prison and Probation Service announced the new terminology in a report setting out future plans.
It states: “We are using this document as an opportunity to reset some of the language in the probation system so that we can build an inclusive culture which staff from both community rehabilitation companies and the National Probation Service can relate to.
“Utilising terminology that resonates with stakeholders, and best reflects the intentions behind the new model and the benefits that we are seeking to achieve.”
But David Green, director of Civitas, said it was “political correctness gone rife”. He added: “If ‘inclusiveness’ is the top priority then why not abolish the distinction between law-abiding and law-breaking people?”.
“From now on, someone who calls the police to say their house has been broken into will be known as ‘a person subject to police services’ and so too will be the person who broke in, if they are unfortunate enough to be one of the few burglars who are arrested.”
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and government adviser said the labelling changes were “symptomatic of a culture that is completely adrift from the practical realities of managing crime and criminals”.
It follows similar moves in the prison service which has experimented with calling cells “rooms” to help rehabilitate offenders.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We will carry on using the term offender, but those who commit crimes have the chance to lose that label if they work to turn their life around.”