Bye bye to ‘incorrigible’ as a legal term to define PINs (person in need of supervision). While we’ve advocated for this change in NYS law, we continue to work to reclaim the term on the behalf of incorrigible girls and women everywhere. ..incorrigibility is a term that is inconsistent with youth…
Great news for New York State! The bill that eliminates the use of the antiquated word “incorrigible” as a subcategory of PINS (person in need of supervision) in the state’s Family Court Act was signed by Governor Cuomo on April 6, 2021. The bill had to be reintroduced in the new legislative session as it didn’t get as far as Cuomo’s desk in 2020. It’s a decades-old law that governs the functioning of the state’s juvenile justice system. Information on the bill, sponsored by Senator Julia Salazar of Brooklyn and advocated for by Girls for Gender Equity – GGE and others can be read here: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A5873.
“This is a term that, at least, implicitly and in practice singles out girls of color for not matching expectations of stereotypical “feminine” behavior and labels them as “uncorrectable” or unreformable”
