Chicago City Wire

Paul Vallas, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, said Illinois legislators attempting to change the term “offender” to “justice-impacted individual” shows that they see “criminals as victims and police as criminals.”

“Illinois legislation changing ‘offender’ to ‘justice-impacted individual’ tells you all you need to know about the current mindset of state & local leaders who increasingly see criminals as victims & police as criminals & who do not consider the needs of victims a priority,” Vallas said in a post on X. 

The legislation in question, House Bill 4409, would require the word "offender" to be changed to "justice-impacted individuals." The bill would also create the Adult Redeploy Illinois Oversight “to oversee, provide guidance, and develop an administrative structure for the Adult Redeploy Illinois Program.”

Republican legislators in the House opposed the measure as the vocabulary change would cost taxpayers thousands of dollars unnecessarily. They also questioned how this term change would impact those referred to as victims, according to an article by The Center Square.

The bill was passed by both the House and the Senate and was sent to Governor J.B. Pritzker for approval. 

Paul Vallas currently serves as a policy advisor for IllinoisPolicy.org. He is a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Before he was appointed to CPS, he served as Chicago city revenue director and Chicago city budget director. He previously ran as a candidate for Chicago mayor, and was defeated by current mayor Brandon Johnson.