September 30, 2009

Letter from Disability Advocates: A Call to Action to Eliminate the Use of Aversive Procedures & Other Inhumane Practices

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division plans to start an investigation to determine the merits of this complaint about the use of electric skin shocks as an aversive disciplinary technique for children with developmental disabilities. In its investigation, DOJ will consider the legality and appropriateness of the skin shocks. The complaint was submitted to DOJ in September 2009 by a group of 31 disability advocacy organizations. The complaint focuses on a behavioral treatment used at the Judge Rotenberg Center, in Canton, Massachusetts in which students with developmental disabilities may receive an electric shock to the skin of their arms or legs if they engage in behavior that could harm themselves or others, or engage in any other behavior the center believes may lead to a dangerous behavior.