When Salecia Johnson, a six year old girl, was handcuffed by police for a “tantrum” at school, Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord justified the action by saying, “Our policy is that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed in the back. There is no age discrimination on that rule.”
I don’t buy it.
If we follow this idea of cuffing anyone in police custody to its logical conclusion, we would expect that police would put anyone in cuffs. Six-year-olds. Five-year-olds. How about four? Three? Two? Newborn?
When we reach the level of newborn, it’s clear that the police would never handcuff an infant, which means that we can’t take Swicord’s words at face value. It cannot possibly be true that everyone is cuffed, and, in turn, that means that line has to be drawn somewhere. By asserting policy as a justification for putting Johnson in cuffs, Swicord is attempting to deny that there is a human element in the decision-making.
As a society, we have struggled with how to handle the youthful offender. Historically, we relied upon the common law principle of responsibility, which held that those under the age of 14 were generally not capable of forming the necessary intent to commit a crime. Yet, in today’s harsh justice society, there are some states that have no lower age limit for criminal responsibility. This means that, should a prosecutor decide to do so, the law allows criminal prosecution of anyone, including infants.
Psychology and medical science tell us what we should already know: a child’s brain is different. The developing brain is fundamentally different than that of the mature adult. The decision to treat children differently, and specifically more leniently, is not merely a moral choice. It is based in science. Failure to recognize age-based differences is, itself, a form of age discrimination.
It’s true that figuring out where to draw this line for older children is difficult. We all know teens who have matured rapidly and function more like adults than children, just as we know teens who persist in child-like behaviors and thinking well past our conventional expectations. Thinking back to our own adolescent years, I’m sure we can all remember the vicissitudes of that time of transition, the ways in which our own maturity could vacillate acutely even from hour to hour.
But six years old? C’mon. I can’t help but point out the presence of other sociologically relevant demographic variables in this case. Johnson is African-American. Probably not upper class. And, as a girl, Johnson was behaving outside of gendered behavior expectations. Suggesting that she was cuffed in accordance with neutral standard operating procedures is one part CYA tactic, one part dramatization of evil, one part lawsuit posturing, and one part outright lie.
You can do better, Milledgeville Police Department.
Louise Behiel
April 26, 2012
it was very shocking. and for no good reason, from what I saw
anotherboomerblog
April 26, 2012
When I was a chid protection worker a friend of mine was transporting an 8 year old boy who was known to act out (run in wet cement, break windows out of buildings, etc.) in the state car to a foster home after a Child In Need of Aid hearing. The boy, a cherubic looking little guy with a great personality, asked to sit in the back. My friend said sure. The little guy took off his boot and hit the social worker so hard with it that he knocked him out. The car went off the road and wrecked. Fortunately, no one died.
After that the child was transported sitting between two adult workers and the one not driving was watching him like a hawk. He had to wear slippers while in a car and we made sure he had nothing around that could be used as a weapon. He was a little kid, about the size of a kindergartener. He had lilly white skin, brown hair and the eyes of an angel. You tell me – how young is too young to restrain?
I have run into a rampaging 2 year old who was biting, scratching, kicking, screaming, spitting, etc. in totally out of control tantrums and I still have a scar inflicted from that encounter. I was trained in how to restrain an out of control child without injuring the child while attempting to remain safe myself. I don’t think cuffs would have been the answer, perhaps a large blanket would have been a better alternative, but that would have meant letting go. That child was also white.
If the child was raging to the point that she could have injured herself flinging herself around in the back of an enclosed police car (that was not discussed) then perhaps cuffing was appropriate. Perhaps not. I don’t believe police are trained in how to restrain young children safely so they have limited options. I believe I have also read of white children being cuffed, although not by the same police department. It is a problem when we ask a cop to have to deal with a small child who may be acting out. This is not what they are trained for.
Not only are children’s brains different, we don’t recognize that children are children (adolescents) until around age 25 when it comes to brain development. Perhaps the wrong people were notified – perhaps it should have been child protection.
appletonavenue
April 26, 2012
Zero tolerance attitude of the lemmings in this world.