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A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 21 OctOber 2021

Tiny wrists in cuffs: How police use force against children

handle of a car door. He was Department on juvenile en-
13 years old and 80 pounds counters.
(36 kilograms), and his flight
ended with his thigh caught The trauma lasts. Kids can’t
in a police K-9′s jaw. sleep. They withdraw, act
out. Their brains are still de-
The AP contacted every po- veloping, and the encounters
lice department detailed in can have long-term impact,
this story. Some did not re- psychologists said.
spond; others said they could
not comment because of “I think that when officers
pending litigation. Those re- understand the basic core
sponding defended the con- components of development
duct of their officers or noted and youth development —
changes to the departments their social, emotional, phys-
after the incidents took place. ical, psychological develop-
ment — it can really help
There are no laws that spe- them understand why they
cifically prohibit police force might need to take a different
against children. Some de- approach,” Jackson said.
partments have policies that
govern how old a child must Training offered by the Na-
be to be handcuffed, but very tional Association of School
few mention age in their use- Resource Officers includes
of-force policies. While some sessions on the adolescent
(AP) — Royal Smart re- partments nationwide have dataset are teenagers, but the offer guidance on how to brain to help officers under-
members every detail: the few or no guardrails to pre- data included dozens of cases manage juveniles accused of stand why kids react and re-
feeling of the handcuffs vent such incidents. of children ages 10 or young- crime or how to handle peo- spond the way they do, ex-
on his wrists. The panic er who were also subject to ple in mental distress, the AP ecutive director Mo Canady
as he was led outside into The AP analyzed data on ap- police force. could find no policy that ad- said. But not every depart-
the cold March darkness, proximately 3,000 instances dresses these issues together. ment makes use of the train-
arms raised, to face a wall of police use of force against Force is occasionally nec- ing.
of police officers pointing children under 16 over the essary to subdue children, That’s by design, policing
their guns. past 11 years. The data, some of whom are accused of experts said, in part so that Canady and other policing
provided to the AP by Ac- serious crimes. officers can make critical de- experts cautioned against
He was 8 years old. countable Now, a project of cisions in the moment. But blanket policies that would
The Leadership Conference Police reports obtained for a that means police don’t re- bar force against younger
Neither he nor anyone else at Education Fund aiming to sample of incidents show that ceive the training they need children.
his family’s home on Chica- create a comprehensive use- some kids who were stunned to deal with kids.
go’s South Side was arrested of-force database, includes or restrained were armed; “You can’t say just because a
on that night two years ago, incidents from 25 police de- others were undergoing “Adolescents are just so fun- student is 12 that we’re not
and police wielding a warrant partments in 17 states. mental health crises and were damentally different in so going to use force,” Canady
to look for illegal weapons at risk of harming them- many respects, and the tech- said. “Most 12-year-olds
found none. But even now, It’s a small representation selves. Still other reports niques that officers are ac- you wouldn’t. But you don’t
in nightmares and in waking of the 18,000 overall police showed police force escalat- customed to using … it just know the circumstances of
moments, he is tormented by agencies nationwide and the ing after kids fled from police doesn’t lend itself to the in- everything. You could have
visions of officers bursting millions of daily encounters questioning. In St. Peters- teraction going well with a 12-year-old who is big-
through houses and tearing police have with the public. burg, Florida, for instance, youth,” said Dylan Jackson, a ger, stronger and assaulting
rooms apart, ordering people officers chased a Black boy criminologist at Johns Hop- a teacher, and you may very
to lie down on the floor. But the information gleaned on suspicion of attempted kins University, who is work- well have to use some level of
is troubling. car theft after he pulled the ing with the Baltimore Police force.”
“I can’t go to sleep,” he said.
“I keep thinking about the Black children made up more
police coming.” than 50% of those who were
handled forcibly, though they
Children like Royal were are only 15% of the U.S.
not the focus after George child population. They and
Floyd died at the hands of other minority kids are often
police in 2020, prompting a perceived by police as be-
raging debate on the dispro- ing older than they are. The
portionate use of force by law most common types of force
enforcement, especially on were takedowns, strikes and
adults of color. Kids are still muscling, followed by fire-
an afterthought in reforms arms pointed at or used on
championed by lawmakers children. Less often, children
and pushed by police depart- faced other tactics, like the
ments. But in case after case, use of pepper spray or police
an Associated Press investiga- K-9s.
tion has found that children
as young as 6 have been treat- In Minneapolis, officers
ed harshly — even brutally pinned children with their
— by officers of the law. bodyweight at least 190
times. In Indianapolis, more
They have been handcuffed, than 160 kids were hand-
felled by stun guns, taken cuffed; in Wichita, Kansas,
down and pinned to the police officers drew or used
ground by officers often far their Tasers on kids at least 45
larger than they were. De- times. Most children in the