The Boston-area special needs school Judge Rotenberg Center enrolls students that are all ages 3 to adult, all of whom are either autistic children or are struggling with severe emotional, behavioral or psychiatric disorders. Those students who display undesirable behavior, according to ABC News, are subjected to a treatment which the United Nations is calling “torture.” Judge Rotenberg students are all subject to shock treatment.
’Aversive therapy’ for autistic children isn’t torture, claims JRC
Calling the JRC’s treatment of autistic children in extreme situations torture is akin to calling a physician using a scalpel on a patient assault with a deadly weapon, claim JRC representatives. They say that shock treatment in short bursts is humane when compared to alternatives of either allowing emotionally disturbed or even autistic kids to cause themselves or others physical harm or otherwise medicating them into a lobotomized state. Head JRC doctor, who’s Matthew Israel told ABC that the real torture for autistic kids and others is the latter. He said that JRC’s shock treatment “has no detrimental effects whatsoever.”
Just a two second skin shock
The Judge Rotenberg Center uses a very small device that administers a shock when necessary as a form of behavioral therapy, says Israel. Students are only subjected to the device after a court and parents or caregivers approve. Allegedly, the short shock hurts just enough to dissuade JRC students from destructive behavior. After periods of good behavior, students are rewarded with points. In total, the Judge Rotenberg Center houses such students for $200,000 per year, taxpayer financed.
UN and advocates for disabled condemn this special treatment
Eric Rosenthal, an advocate for the disabled, created a report that really wanted the United Nations to become involved in the JRC’s activities. Massachusetts Sen. Brian Joyce has tried to shut down the Judge Rotenberg Center but has been unsuccessful thus far. The United Nations reference America’s international treaty stance on torture when they are referring to the JRC’s shock treatment of autistic children and other students. The argument is that if the United States shouldn’t be administering shock treatment to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, how can any home soil organization be allowed do it to children?
Citations|Discover more details|Find more info here|More data available at these websites|Discover more about this topic here|More data about this topic at these websites}:
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Nightline/shock-therapy-massachussetts-school/story?id=11047334
Surgeon Sherwin Nuland discusses the development of electroshock therapy (Editor’s Note: A small amount of NSFW language is used):
youtube.com/watch?v=oEZrAGdZ1i8
