Media Reports Shed Light on Aggressive Treatment of Special Needs Children in the United States
The United States is treading a concerning path reminiscent of history’s darkest regimes, employing psychiatry as a tool for punishing children who misbehave, a practice often referred to as punitive psychiatry.
Punitive psychiatry can also be described as the misuse of psychiatry, including diagnosis, detention, and treatment, for the purposes of obstructing the human rights of individuals and/or groups in society.
In 2016, American law enforcement detained a special needs six-year-old boy following a tantrum, transporting him to a for-profit psychiatric hospital. There, he was confined in a “seclusion” room, enduring a distressing wait of over 24 hours before seeing a doctor. The traumatized mother expressed, “It felt as though my child had been kidnapped.”
Despite having no suicidal or homicidal thoughts, American psychiatrist estimated his stay would be three to four days, citing his “poor impulse control” and “aggressive behavior.”
In the last eight years, a staggering number of students — no fewer than 750 — have been confined in psychiatric facilities, with some as young as 5 years old.
As reported by The Hechinger Report, Wicomico school children were subjected to handcuffing and emergency room psychiatric evaluations a troubling 117 times. This equates to approximately one incident for every 100 students. Building on this frightening trend, the Louisville Courier Journal found a Kentucky school district used a psychiatric assessment on kids more than 1,000 times in a year. To add, the Tampa Bay Times reported, Florida’s involuntary commitment statute, the Baker Act, has been invoked on thousands of school-aged children.
In 1991, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 46/119: The UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement for Mental Health Care (hereinafter MI Principles). Of the 25 Principles, number 4 (3) is potentially relevant to special needs children, in that, non-conformity with social and cultural values prevailing in a person’s community, shall never be a determining factor in diagnosing mental illness. Certainly, not every student exhibiting misbehavior is necessarily grappling with a mental illness.
The Deployment of Brutality and Handcuffs by Law Enforcement on Children is an Alarming and Egregious Practice That Demands Urgent Attention and Reform.
The Department of Education argues there has been a decrease in the number of children arrested in school, but the remaining figures are still disconcerting. Between 2020 and 2021, a troubling 100 elementary school children found themselves in handcuffs — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, the data underscores a significant disparity, revealing that special needs children in elementary schools were four times more likely to face school arrests compared to their peers without disabilities. This persisting trend is evident in the latest data, with children having disabilities such as ADHD or autism still being four times more likely to experience arrests within the school setting.
Indeed, at the onset of this year, a deeply disturbing incident unfolded as law enforcement resorted to handcuffing a nine-year-old special needs child who was experiencing a tantrum at a Florida elementary school.
Although I am not intimately familiar with the emotional challenges that come with caring for a special needs child who is using profanity, throwing papers, and kicking at teachers, it becomes evident to me that law enforcement interventions should prioritize an approach that is sympathetic and compassionate. Regrettably, the reality deviates from the ideal. For instance, recent reports shed light on an incident in Wyoming where a deputy resorted to forcefully slamming a eight-year-old special needs student to the ground. As the Laramie County deputy slammed the boy into the floor, the video vividly captures his struggle for breath, uncontrollable cries, and desperate pleas for the officer to cease.
The United States Has Not Taken the Step to Formally Ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Highlighting a Notable Absence in Its Commitment to International Child Rights Standards.
In June 2023, I highlighted the arbitrary and concerning trend of handcuffing children in the United States. Emphasizing the importance of ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), I underscored the critical need for safeguarding children’s rights in the country. In a separate article, I explicitly pointed out that the widespread practice of handcuffing children in the United States constitutes a violation of international human rights law. Despite the presence of compelling evidence revealing the abuse of the most vulnerable children by authority figures in the United States, the country has yet to ratify the CRC.
The United States Has Not Taken the Step to Formally Ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Illuminating a Striking Deficiency in Its Pledge to Uphold International Standards for the Rights of Individuals with Special Needs.
A crucial bill that advocated for the reallocation of federal funds did not progress to the Senate, which could have shifted funds away from sustaining a police presence in schools and towards evidence-based, trauma-informed services to address the needs of marginalized students. The Keeping All Students Safe Act, which would have prohibited the use of mechanical, chemical or physical restraints also did not pass. Despite the fact that these restraints frequently impede breathing and have proven life-threatening for many children, like Xavier Hernandez, Cornelius Frederick, Max Benson, Jeremiah Fleeming, Johnathan Carey, Corey Foster and others, the United States has yet to take decisive action.
Its worth mentioning here that the United States has yet to formally ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). While the United States has argued the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is “value-added,” I agree with Tara J. Melish, in that, questions and answers on whether a piece of legislation or act is value-added should be left to the community of individuals with disabilities to decide. Indeed, advocates for individuals with disabilities were disappointed by the United States announcement that it did not intend to ratify the CRPD or to play an active role in the Ad Hoc Committee.[1] Melish argues that ratification enables the United States to not only set an example for the global community, showcasing our dedication to the rights of individuals with disabilities, but also to uphold and embody these principles domestically. By doing so, the United States would affirm its commitment to equality, both as a nation and as a united social community.[2]
Indeed, the Human Rights Committee was concerned at reports of high levels of police presence in schools and of harsh disciplinary practices in the school system, including school-related arrests, suspensions and referrals to law enforcement, which result in children’s early entry to the criminal justice system (the “school-to-prison pipeline”), as articulated in paragraph 62 of the CCPR/C/USA/CO/5.
There are three reasons why the CRPD is important. First, it bolsters the protective framework for children with special needs, as it recognizes that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children. Second, Article 7 (2) mandates that in all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration. This is crucial for special needs children who find themselves in encounters with law enforcement officers who are unsympathetic and dispassionate. Third, Article 16 protects children from exploitation violence and abuse. For instance, § 3 calls on States Parties to ensure that all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent authorities, to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse.
The United States must turn its attention inward and champion the rights of children who endure suffering within the nation. Therefore, I reiterate my appeal for the United States to formally ratify the CRC. If the nation genuinely aspires to safeguard the well-being of children, it is imperative to extend this commitment by ratifying the CRPD as well.
References
[1] Melish, Tara J. “The UN Disability Convention: Historic Process, Strong Prospects, and Why the U.S. Should Ratify.” Human Rights Brief 14, no. 2 (2007): 37, 43–47.
[2] Id., p. 46.