Correspondents’ dinner shooting reminds us that words matter.

The attempted assassination attempt at this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner and other recent conversations about political violence have brought up a pretty simple but important point: the way we talk about people matters. During a press conference held shortly after the dinner, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asked, “what do you expect to happen” when public rhetoric consistently targets

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Clip from recent episode of Dr. Phil says registries don’t keep public safe

This clip from a recently aired episode of Dr. Phil features Michigan Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who answers the questions of whether the sex offender registry keeps us safe. It does not. After pointing out that we are approaching one million people on US Sex Offender Registries, Judge Aquilina points out that the registry is so saturated it becomes blinding to

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Unnecessary headline: Why was “Sex Offender” Relevant in The Villages Fire Story?

This weekend, Villages-News.com reported on a residential fire in The Villages (Florida) under the headline: “Convicted sex offender suffers severe burns in fire at home in The Villages.” The facts of the story are straightforward. Two men were severely injured in an accidental garage fire, reportedly caused by an electrical issue involving a portable air conditioning unit. Both were airlifted

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This Morning’s Headlines Are Missing the Real Lesson About Safety

This morning headlines across Florida news outlets are reporting about a missing teen found in a registrant’s closet, but the way this story is being framed obscures far more than it reveals. The implication being drawn is that the sex offender registry played some role in protecting the child or identifying danger. In reality, the facts point in the opposite

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