MIAMI
-- The arrest of her son for a schoolyard fight was
devastating enough, but Giselle Sanchez was horrified when
she watched the 15-year-old, his wrists handcuffed and his
ankles shackled, shuffle into his first juvenile-court
appearance."He's a child, not an animal," Sanchez said. "Why is he in chains?"
For years, the same question has haunted lawyers with the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office. On Monday, they acted to unshackle the children who appear in their courtrooms. If they are successful, their tactic is likely to spread across the state.
They think Florida's practice of routinely chaining children during court hearings -- regardless of their age, size, alleged offense, or likelihood of misbehavior or escape -- is psychologically abusive and counter to the rehabilitative goals of the juvenile-justice system.
Asking
judges to halt the "degrading and unlawful" practice in
Miami-Dade County, the lawyers filed motions on behalf of
each youngster who appeared in juvenile court for detention
hearings. The only judge to hear the motions Monday granted
them, saying he, too, disagreed with cuffing kids in the
courtroom unless the child was a known security risk.Appointed to represent poor clients, the lawyers plan to return today and Wednesday and thereafter, asking the remaining three juvenile-court judges to remove the leg irons and handcuffs from each of their clients.
The Public Defender's Office in Broward County plans to introduce a similar motion soon, and counterparts in at least Orange, Brevard, Leon, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Palm Beach and Pasco counties are watching with considerable interest.
"It is an insidious policy, and the worst part is it's being done across the board, before any determination of guilt," said Carlos Martinez, Miami-Dade's chief assistant public defender. "What makes sense is to have default policy not to shackle and make a determination to shackle only when they are a flight risk or a danger."
Frank de la Torre, a chief assistant public defender in Broward, agreed. After a 10-year hiatus from juvenile court, he said he was stunned to learn that juveniles awaiting detention hearings in Broward are more tightly restrained than adults appearing in a court for violent repeat offenders, known as ROC.
"It's shocking to go to ROC court, where guys are facing life in prison for carjacking, kidnapping and armed robbery and see them only in handcuffs, then go downstairs to juvenile court and see two 12-year-olds who are 5-foot-nothing shackled like [serial killer] Ted Bundy," de la Torre said.
Many judges, however, say the restraints are necessary, especially in jurisdictions such as Orange County, where juveniles attend hearing in groups rather than individually.
"It would be extremely dangerous [to remove the restraints,]" said Maura Smith, administrative judge of juvenile court in Orange and Osceola counties. "If just one kid is off, it could ignite the whole group. He could get a gun from a deputy. With the facilities we have and the lack of funding, it's a security issue."
She and other judges said that because juveniles are tried by judges, not juries, the restraints do not prejudice the child's presumed innocence.
Though Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Johnson disagrees with the practice and ordered the children appearing in his courtroom unshackled Monday, he said each judge should decide his or her policy.
Exactly when the policy began varies by locale and is difficult to pinpoint, but Martinez said it has slowly crept into every judicial circuit in the state. Even court officials in Miami-Dade disagree on the timetable here.
But they generally agree the practice evolved from decades-old and still-active state Department of Juvenile Justice regulations that require youths transported from detention to be placed in handcuffs, waist chains and ankle shackles. The regulations, however, do not require judges to leave the children manacled in their courtrooms, and DJJ personnel can remove the restraints if instructed, DJJ spokeswoman Tara Collins said.
That rarely happens, according to Orange-Osceola Public Defender Bob Wesley, who said some judges are even reluctant to remove restraints so the accused can take notes during trial. One judge, he said, only agrees to remove the cuff on one hand.
He blames the perceived inconvenience on the juvenile system.
"Instead of saying, 'I'll take the chains off Johnny and let him be human in court,' they become lazy and say: 'Oh, I'll just leave the chains on. It's too much trouble. I have to put them right back on anyway,' " Wesley said.
Lester Langer, the associate chief judge in Miami-Dade's juvenile division, agreed the practicalities of removing and refastening restraints are intertwined with security concerns.
"From a practical point of view, they have to transfer children from point A to point B, so to unshackle some when you get to point B might create more of a security problem," he said.
Langer would not comment on the motion but will have his first chance to rule on it today.
Miami-Dade's public defenders hope their challenges will shock the conscience of court personnel across the state. Though the 34-page motions are not the first legal challenges to the policy, they are thought to be the first to attack it from a psychological and scientific, as well as legal, perspective.
Relying on the testimony of five experts, the public defenders allege that restraining children harms them emotionally and psychologically, as well as physically.
"These are young, impressionable kids who are going through what we used to call an identity crisis: 'Who am I? What is my place in the world?' " said Bruce Winick, an expert in law and psychology at the University of Miami. "And we're telling them: 'You are dangerous. You cannot be trusted.' We're giving them a message that they are bad and, moreover, violent. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy."
Gwen Wurm, medical director of Jackson Memorial Hospital's medical foster-care program in Miami, agreed, adding that, as a health-care professional, she would be obligated to report any parent who restrained their child in the manner in which they routinely appear in court.
"We have to ask ourselves a simple question," said Martinez of the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office. "What year are we living in where we think it's appropriate to chain up children as if they were wild animals?"
Maya Bell can be reached at 305-810-5003 or mbell@orlandosentinel.com.