The California virus is spreading
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/state-news/colorado-board-changing-language-regarding-sex-offender-for-rehabilitation-purposes
The Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) was created in 1992 and works with about 500 treatment providers within the state, which serve approximately 2,000 to 3,000 sex offenders.
The program manager of the SOMB, Chris Lobanov-Rostovsky, said the board has previously looked at person-first language and making a transition from the term "sex offender" to something like "adults who have committed sexual offenses." He said their standards already include person-first language in a number of the sections. The board asked if that should be expanded to all sections, and assigned the topic to a subcommittee.
News5 reached out to the 4th Judicial District for a response to the SOMB, and was provided with the following statement: Lobanov-Rostovsky’s statements comparing people who are born with learning disabilities to sex offenders who have taken affirmative steps to sexually violate another person are disgusting. The Sex Offender Management Board should spend its valuable time on finding effective ways to treat a challenging group of convicted criminals, rather than coming up with new ways to label them. Words have meaning, and actions have consequences and labeling someone a sex offender after they have been convicted of a sex offense recognizes the gravity of committing sex offenses. The board’s efforts to change the terminology used to label people who have committed atrocious acts that violate a person in a most intimate and damaging way is misguided. This proposed change diminishes the harm done to victims at the hands of sex offenders, and there is no reputable study in existence that shows that such a change in terminology will have any measurable effect on the successful treatment of sex offenders and recidivism.