Illinois legislators are trying to update the language of state law by changing “offender” into “justice impacted individual” for those who have been convicted of crimes. The proposed House Bill 4409 sparked sharp disagreements among Democrats and Republicans within the state legislature.

According to The Center Square, Republican State Senator Terri Bryant, during a hearing on Wednesday, criticised the proposed change. She cited the amount of money taxpayers spend when government agencies are forced to change language.

The lawmaker said, “We keep changing names of those we refer to as criminals, and every time we do, we have to change it on all of our documents.” The Department of Corrections has made multiple changes, which cost thousands of dollars to make. Why does it need to be changed?

Steve McClure, Republican State Senator, said that there is a rush to remove all accountability from people who commit crimes. He also stated that “apologizing to criminals and those who commit crimes at the expense of victims…is absolutely unbelievable.”

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The Center Square reported that the lawmaker brought up “the case of the man who killed Jayden Perkins, 11, a day following his release,” and claimed the perpetrator wasn’t a “justice impacted individual,” but rather an “offender.”

Robert Peters, a Democratic State Senator, supported the name-change, saying that they were “adding Human Services, Sangamon, and Cook County Adult Probation, and two members of the ARI system who have experience as offenders or justice-impacted individuals.”

Peters insisted on the importance of language in rehabilitation, saying that it “indicates that someone who is impacted by criminal justice is an individual.”

The bill will be sent soon to the Governor for his signature.