Going Too Far: Kids Handcuffed for Having Tantrums at School

Excessive force can do more harm than good.

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Ja'Briel Weston - After Ja'Briel Weston talked back to his teacher in May 2010, the 6-year-old was handcuffed to a chair by an armed security officer at his New Orleans school. Two days later, after a lunchroom fight with another student, Ja'Briel was dragged down a hallway and shackled for a second time to a chair. The incident pushed the Southern Poverty Law Center to sue the school district for its disciplinary policies. In the settlement, the district agreed to stop using fixed restraints, limit the use of handcuffs in disciplinary matters and provide more training for security officers. (Photo: ABC WGNO)
Incident at Fairmount Park Elementary School - After a 5-year-old girl was forcibly handcuffed by three police officers at her St. Petersburg, Florida, school in March 2005, her family threatened to sue the officers for not doing more to calm the child before restraining her. In a video that captured the incident, the little girl, who was not identified, can be seen ripping papers off a bulletin board, climbing on furniture and punching her assistant principal before she was handcuffed and held inside a police cruiser. (Photo: David Dermer/Getty Images)

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Ja'Briel Weston - After Ja'Briel Weston talked back to his teacher in May 2010, the 6-year-old was handcuffed to a chair by an armed security officer at his New Orleans school. Two days later, after a lunchroom fight with another student, Ja'Briel was dragged down a hallway and shackled for a second time to a chair. The incident pushed the Southern Poverty Law Center to sue the school district for its disciplinary policies. In the settlement, the district agreed to stop using fixed restraints, limit the use of handcuffs in disciplinary matters and provide more training for security officers. (Photo: ABC WGNO)

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