Tag Archives: JRC

U.N. investigating Judge Rotenberg Center’s Use of Electroshock of Kids as Torture

Powerful video of a Judge Rotenberg Center student shocked and restrained for hours continues to reverberate on Beacon Hill and beyond, with opponents of the treatment stepping up efforts to ban the shocks as the United Nations expert on torture says he’s investigating the school. The video has helped fuel a renewed lobbying effort to ban the long-controversial shocks. Several opponents of the shocks, including the mother of the student in that video, visited lawmakers’ offices today to press for the ban.

“We’re going to continue to let our children be tortured? I just hope that they come to their senses are realize this is wrong and it’s been wrong for the last 27 years,” said Cheryl McCollins, mother of former Rotenberg Center student Andre McCollins.

Internet Users Rise Up Against Electroshocking Kids—Change.org Petition Seeks to End Torture

The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton is the only place in the country where kids with severe behavioral problems are shocked when they misbehave. You read that right. After the release of a video depicting such a shock session, the Internet is rising in opposition to the practice, which the school claims to use as a clear disincentive to bad behavior — especially for kids who have difficulty with regular comprehension. It’s sort of like blasting your dog with a spray bottle when he tries to eat something off the table. Except replace dog with human, spray bottle with battery powered electric shock device, and eat something off the table with anything contra to what staff members instruct.