Twenty years ago, I used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day on a regular basis. I was also guilty of the offence of drink driving for which I was duly punished.

When I was 15 I stole steal a magazine from my local newsagent.

Now, the question I want answered is this: Am I now a smoker, a drink driver or a thief?

To the best of my understanding, I hold none of those three identities. This I because I do not smoke, drink and drive or steal, nor have any intention to do so.

By the same logic, Mike Tyson is NOT a rapist. He is a man who committed the offence of rape and was punished for it.

It is an incorrect use of language to drag his crime from the past and place it in the present. Only he can know if he has truly changed and it is completely wrong for anyone to judge him in this way.

This same poor use of language also applies to people who have committed the act of murder. Once they have been released back into society they are an ex-murderer.

While certain serial killers may hold on to the desire to kill all their lives and therefore can be correctly labelled as murderers, many people who commit murder do repent and change. Therefore their crime goes into the past.

The famous German philosopher Martin Heidegger once said that "language is the house of being". If we are to improve as a species, we need to understand that the way we talk changes the way we think. We need more precision in our everyday speech.

-Simon Boyd, Newhaven