APPR’s Use of Language: Words Have Power
August 06, 2020
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) is committed to achieving fair, just, and equitable pretrial justice, every day, throughout the nation. Our mission is to demonstrate equitable improvements in pretrial outcomes through high-fidelity implementation and comprehensive research on pretrial assessments, policies, and practices.
We believe language—the words we use in written and verbal communications—plays a role in gaining support for pretrial system advancements and contributes to meaningful and lasting culture change. The language we use helps shape our thinking, which affects the decisions we make and actions we take regarding people affected by the legal system.
Research shows that language and framing can reinforce stereotypes. [1] Thus, using certain language may inhibit our collective efforts to improve pretrial justice. As such, we commit to the deliberate use of language and graphics that reflect our values and principles and that are strength-based and people-focused. Throughout all of APPR’s materials and resources, we use terms that humanize the people impacted by the justice system, and we frame ideas and concepts in the positive rather than the negative. Describing pretrial behavior in the negative (i.e., failure to appear, new arrest) perpetuates the misconception that pretrial failure is the rule rather than the exception. In fact, an overwhelming number of people are successful during the pretrial phase of the justice system process. [2]
Here are a few examples of the language we use:
- People: Rather than “defendant” or “accused person,” we use “person” (or, if the subject is unclear, depending on where the person is in the pretrial process, “person arrested for a crime” or “person accused of a crime”). This avoids the dehumanizing labels too often placed on people involved in the legal system.
- Outcomes: Instead of measuring pretrial outcomes as rates of failure (e.g., “failure to appear” and “new arrest”), we speak to rates of pretrial success (court appearance rates and arrest-free rates). This language is incorporated into all materials about the Public Safety Assessment (PSA)—in the implementation guides, training materials, and template for the pretrial assessment report.
- Similarly, we speak about the “likelihood of success” rather than the “risk of failure,” which perpetuates the assumption of failure.
- Assessments: We describe the PSA as a “pretrial assessment” (without the word “risk”) in order to emphasize that the tool measures the likelihood of certain outcomes, not the “risk” of a person’s failure.
If you share in our principles and goals, we invite you to join us in our commitment to the deliberate use of language that supports our collective vision of advancing pretrial improvements and pretrial success.
Please view APPR’s pretrial glossary, in which we define terms commonly used in the pretrial field, and explore our newly released pretrial guides and resources, where you will find deliberately incorporated language and visuals. APPR also invites colleagues around the country to offer additional suggestions for how we can further improve our language. Send us your thoughts or share your suggestions with the APPR Community. We’d love to hear from you.