Talk:Second Chance Act

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[edit] Not "prisoners", not "(ex)offenders"

The Second Chance Act, as cited by the article at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.623:|HR , is careful not to use these terms; Wikipedia should be just as careful, so as to have an accurate article. The Act uses the term "individual"; I hope anyone editing or correcting this article will read the Act as they edit. I repaired the section named "Qualifications" but I don't have time to pick through all of this now, hoping somebody else will finish up. Best, CliffC (talk) 02:45, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Cliff- I agree. The term "convicted felons", while factually accurate in context, has evolved into a phrase of demagoguery that no longer addresses the severity of the offense or the offender (for example, Martha Stewart and Charles Manson are both "convicted felons".) In our present social framework, that phrase is often used in extremely alarmist fashion to exacerbate the severity of certain offenders, or, to create social perceptions that would be unfavorable towards reentry initiatives. This is why the term "ex-offender" is more commonly used, given that the "convicted felon" label comes with so much baggage, often times, unfairly so (I just finished reading an article about a girl in Texas who stole a steak off her neighbors grill and was charged with various felonies- certainlly not the functional intent of the "felony" concept when we adopted it). I agree that "individual" is more appropriate than either "convicted felon" or "ex-offender", since this bill seeks to address issues that pertain to real people. --LoverOfArt (talk) 03:51, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposing this article be renamed

Since there seem to be two acts popularly known as the Second Chance Act (see the distinction recently made in the two lead paragraphs), I propose this article be moved to Second Chance Act (expungement). The other article, once written, could be named Second Chance Act (reentry). Other suggestions welcome. --CliffC (talk) 23:35, 19 April 2008 (UTC)