Practice Guide: Person-First Language Guide for Criminal Legal Reform Advocates & Allies
Person-First Language for Advocates & Allies is a practice guide developed by the National Coalition Against Conviction Registries to support advocates, organizers, and reform leaders working within the criminal legal system.
The guide offers concrete strategies for using person-first language to challenge stigma, affirm dignity, and disrupt narratives that define people solely by conviction or punishment. By translating values into everyday advocacy practice, the resource helps align messaging, policy work, and organizing efforts with principles of equity, accountability, and human rights.
This guide supports leadership and capacity building by equipping advocates with language tools that shape how systems understand people—and, ultimately, how policy decisions are made.
Image of the first-page of practice guide
