It's ALL in the name!
When does an Offender become an Ex-Offender?...
Its ALL in the name!
Offender or ex-offender?
We live in a society that not only requires labels, it demands labels, it seems to be a cultural imperative that in order to address people we need to neatly pigeon hole them into some sort of category. As with most labels it fails to reveal the constituent parts whilst offering a blanket identity, rather like a "catch all" The major problem with this approach is that if we simply look at the label, we miss the full revelation of what is contained within. I once heard a story of a group of elders in a Pentecostal Church situated in the Bible Belt of America. Their Pastor had recently died leaving a vacuum in the leadership of the church. The eldership decided to advertise the role as they felt that no suitable candidate was available from amongst their own ranks. Days passed into weeks, and weeks to months. It was not that they were short of applicants, it was simply that everyone they saw had some flaw or other. One was too fat, one "drank" another seemed altogether too wealthy and so on and so forth. At meeting after meeting the elders could simply not agree on the candidate, and the membership of the church began to suffer, people were falling away. Finally at one meeting one of the oldest members of the leadership brought out a piece of paper and said "brothers I have here an application from a very well qualified and worthy candidate" amidst much excitement the elderly gentleman began to read from the sheet "this man is a serial adulterer, murderer, who drinks too much and has spent a great deal of time in jail, he may have homosexual tendencies, and he has coarse language" the elders were shocked and started to call their disapproval how could you introduce such a man they cried. The elder looked up from his paper and looked around. In a quiet voice he said “pity, because his name is Saint Paul!” the room went very quiet. The moral of that story a bit long winded though it is, is that if we simply apply labels, we are at great risk of missing out.
We all have the capacity to make a mistake (or two!) and if we only look at the label "ex-offender" we see a snapshot of what someone HAS DONE and not necessarily what they WILL DO. By attaching a label, we are in danger of removing potential for success. Who knows what great things may be achieved by giving someone a chance. The terminology offender and ex-offender is emotive, and is as limiting as any other label. We could argue that in the most extreme cases it leads to prejudice, one need look no further than the practice of making jews wear a yellow star in Nazi Germany, by looking at the label, which in effect criminalised them, it de-humanised them and failed to see the potential that lay within.
People that are convicted of crime do not suddenly become useless, they have committed an "offence" agains the norms of society, something that “the man on the Clapham omnibus" would not find reasonable. By looking at the label, we fail to see that the person wants to make amends, and wants to change, this is not to say that this is the case in every event, but if we consider that 20% of adults have a criminal record, maybe we should think before dismissing someone because of their label.
Obviously we have to use terms for the purpose of identification and categorisation , but these terms should be the beginning, and not the end, they should be an invitation to open the door and look a little closer. It may well be that once you have taken the time to go behind the label you can make an informed decision about the person before you. It will certainly be the case that there will be people who deserve to be judged by their label, however It can be argued that this is the minority. The majority of people want to move on and not be defined by their offences, some of the most dedicated and talented people in the workplace are ex-offenders, its just that you may not know it, they go by other labels, “friend”, “Colleague”, “workmate" are these not better and more positive labels.
Offender or ex-offender?
We live in a society that not only requires labels, it demands labels, it seems to be a cultural imperative that in order to address people we need to neatly pigeon hole them into some sort of category. As with most labels it fails to reveal the constituent parts whilst offering a blanket identity, rather like a "catch all" The major problem with this approach is that if we simply look at the label, we miss the full revelation of what is contained within. I once heard a story of a group of elders in a Pentecostal Church situated in the Bible Belt of America. Their Pastor had recently died leaving a vacuum in the leadership of the church. The eldership decided to advertise the role as they felt that no suitable candidate was available from amongst their own ranks. Days passed into weeks, and weeks to months. It was not that they were short of applicants, it was simply that everyone they saw had some flaw or other. One was too fat, one "drank" another seemed altogether too wealthy and so on and so forth. At meeting after meeting the elders could simply not agree on the candidate, and the membership of the church began to suffer, people were falling away. Finally at one meeting one of the oldest members of the leadership brought out a piece of paper and said "brothers I have here an application from a very well qualified and worthy candidate" amidst much excitement the elderly gentleman began to read from the sheet "this man is a serial adulterer, murderer, who drinks too much and has spent a great deal of time in jail, he may have homosexual tendencies, and he has coarse language" the elders were shocked and started to call their disapproval how could you introduce such a man they cried. The elder looked up from his paper and looked around. In a quiet voice he said “pity, because his name is Saint Paul!” the room went very quiet. The moral of that story a bit long winded though it is, is that if we simply apply labels, we are at great risk of missing out.
We all have the capacity to make a mistake (or two!) and if we only look at the label "ex-offender" we see a snapshot of what someone HAS DONE and not necessarily what they WILL DO. By attaching a label, we are in danger of removing potential for success. Who knows what great things may be achieved by giving someone a chance. The terminology offender and ex-offender is emotive, and is as limiting as any other label. We could argue that in the most extreme cases it leads to prejudice, one need look no further than the practice of making jews wear a yellow star in Nazi Germany, by looking at the label, which in effect criminalised them, it de-humanised them and failed to see the potential that lay within.
People that are convicted of crime do not suddenly become useless, they have committed an "offence" agains the norms of society, something that “the man on the Clapham omnibus" would not find reasonable. By looking at the label, we fail to see that the person wants to make amends, and wants to change, this is not to say that this is the case in every event, but if we consider that 20% of adults have a criminal record, maybe we should think before dismissing someone because of their label.
Obviously we have to use terms for the purpose of identification and categorisation , but these terms should be the beginning, and not the end, they should be an invitation to open the door and look a little closer. It may well be that once you have taken the time to go behind the label you can make an informed decision about the person before you. It will certainly be the case that there will be people who deserve to be judged by their label, however It can be argued that this is the minority. The majority of people want to move on and not be defined by their offences, some of the most dedicated and talented people in the workplace are ex-offenders, its just that you may not know it, they go by other labels, “friend”, “Colleague”, “workmate" are these not better and more positive labels.