Dive Brief:
- A video released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union shows a Kentucky school resource officer handcuffing a third-grader, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and has a history of trauma.
- At least one other student, an 8-year-old girl who also has a disability and a history of mental health issues, was handcuffed by the officer.
- The video, which has been widely circulated, was released as part of an ACLU lawsuit against the officer and the county sheriff's office for the use of excessive punishments toward students.
Dive Insight:
Excessive restraint of young students has gained increasing attention in recent years as investigations have found that thousands of students are shackled or restrained. A 2009 Government Accountability Office report found hundreds of cases of abuse and even death as a result of shackling or handcuffing.
The practice has become part of several called into question for feeding the school-to-prison pipeline, which drives students out of schools and into a recurring cycle from juvenile detention centers or law enforcement supervision and into the criminal justice system. The practice disproportionately impacts minority students as well as those with disabilities, who may struggle to control their behavior in stressful situations. The incident depicted in the video appears to be one instance of that.
"Shackling children is not okay. It is traumatizing, and in this case it is also illegal," Susan Mizner, disability counsel for the ACLU, told WVXU. "Using law enforcement to discipline students with disabilities only serves to traumatize children."