Letter: Language changes sanitize serial killers and other offenders

Kevin Coe is no longer a serial rapist but now an “individual?” Ted Bundy merely a “student?” Robert Yates a “patient?” Perhaps John Wayne Gacy simply a “misguided clown?” Maybe Richard Morgan, Washington state’s head of corrections (“Green River Killer will no longer be called an offender,” TCH, Nov. 17), might even regard Mao Zedong’s 60 million death tally as “strained leadership?”

“Times change, and so does our language,” says Mr. Morgan. Alas, human nature does not, and this nature of mine simply has difficulty with the more sanitized version of who these people are, and what they heinously have done to others.

In the meantime, I’m trying to find a word which describes an individual who tries to lessen criminals and offenders with politically correct terminology.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 4:34 AM with the headline "Letter: Language changes sanitize serial killers and other offenders."