By Beth Florkowski of Fausone Bohn, LLP posted in News and Press on Wednesday, May 25, 2016.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants you to hear their new public service announcement: “Stop calling people ‘felons’ or ‘convicts’, it’s offensive to all criminals.” The agency has decided to ban these hurtful labels when referring to former prisoners.

Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason explained the new policy in a Washington Post article: “In an effort to solidify the principles of individual redemption and second chances that our society stands for, I recently issued an agency-wide policy directing our employees to consider how the language we use affects reentry success.”

In a society where political correctness reigns supreme, the last group I expected to be up-in-arms about name-calling was convicted criminals. Yet, the DOJ tells us that these labels are psychological barriers to reintegration; draining a criminal’s sense of self-worth and perpetuating a cycle of crime.