Taser - Use in Schools and On Children

Use in Schools and On Children

Taser International asserts that the taser is safe for use on anyone weighing 60 pounds (27 kg) or more. Police officers that patrol schools, including grade schools, in several U.S. states (including Kansas, Minnesota, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida) have been carrying tasers since the early 2000s. In 2004, the parents of a 6-year-old boy in Miami sued the police department for firing a taser at their child. The police said the boy was threatening to injure his own leg with a shard of glass, and claimed that using the device was the only option to stop the boy from injuring himself. Nevertheless, the boy's mother told CNN that the three officers involved might have found it easier to reason with her child. Two weeks later, a 12-year-old girl skipping school was tasered in Miami-Dade. In March 2008, an 11-year old girl was shocked by a Taser. In March 2009, a 15-year-old boy died in Michigan after being tasered.

Taser supporters suggest that the use in schools consists of merely switching on the device followed with threatening to use it, which can be effective in frightening violent or uncooperative students. This is the method, only if verbal reprimands have not succeeded. Critics counter that tasers may interact with preexisting medical complications such as medications, and may even contribute to someone's death as a result. Critics also suggest that using a taser on a minor, particularly a young child, is effectively cruel and abusive punishment, or unnecessary.