Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

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The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center , in public reporting mostly the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) , known as the Behavior Research Institute (BRI) until 1994 , is an operator of care facilities for disabled and behavioral students in Canton , Massachusetts . The JRC offers long-term inpatient accommodation with behavioral therapy and educational offers for children and adults with severe developmental and behavioral disorders. In 2007 the JRC had 900 employees. Revenue in fiscal 2010/2011 was more than $ 55 million with approximately 240 permanent patients, and revenue per student was reported to be more than $ 200,000.

The JRC has made extensive use of coercive means such as restraint and food deprivation for behavioral therapy and is now the only facility in the United States to use electric shocks to treat the mentally handicapped or severely impaired, including those with autism.

The Judge Rotenberg Center has a long history of mistreatment allegations and subsequent arguments with authorities and civil rights organizations . As early as the 1980s, the State of Massachusetts tried in vain to enforce the closure of the institute. In memory of the late judge Ernest Rotenberg, who in 1987 had secured the continued existence of the then BRI with his decision, the name "Judge Rotenberg Educational Center" was adopted in 1994.

In May 2011, the 77-year-old founder of the JRC, Matthew L. Israel, was charged with the destruction of evidence and manipulation of witnesses in connection with 2007 ill-treatment. As part of an agreement with the public prosecutor's office, he resigned the management of the center in order to avoid a prison sentence of several years. The JRC was ordered to have the abuse of 2007 and the measures taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents reviewed by an independent expert.

The publication of a video recording of a schoolboy who received electric shocks caused public outrage in 2010 and led to a complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture , Manfred Nowak . In 2012 there were renewed protests and a new complaint to Nowak's successor in office, Juan Ernesto Méndez , who, like his predecessor, described the practices as torture. Méndez elaborated on the JRC in his March 2013 report on the worldwide use of torture.

In October 2011, Massachusetts state regulators banned all therapeutic facilities from treating newly admitted patients with strong coercive drugs. Excepted were patients for whom a court-ordered treatment plan was available on September 1, 2011. Effective Spring 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stopped paying Medicaid program benefits to all facilities that treated patients with electric shocks. New York State announced in early 2013 that it intends to move students housed at the JRC to other facilities within the state by June 2014.

Goal setting and methods

The Judge Rotenberg Center's policy is to accept almost all patients. The facility undertakes active treatment with a behaviorism- based approach that it claims is solely aimed at normalization. Therapeutic means include the frequent use of positive reinforcement, video surveillance of employees, and the option to use coercive means, of which the use of electric shocks is the most controversial. The JRC uses aversion therapy as part of their round-the-clock behavioral therapy program. The use of coercive measures provoked protests and calls for various groups to campaign for the rights of disabled people and for protection from such treatments.

At the Judge Rotenberg Center, two-second electric shocks are administered using the Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED) - a device that uses a remote control to deliver electric shocks through electrodes that are permanently attached to the skin. The supervisors wear numerous remote controls with the picture and name of the students on their belts in order to be able to punish them quickly and effectively.

The automatic punishment, also used, consists of forcing the patient to sit on a pillow. As soon as they try to get up, they will receive an automatically triggered electric shock. The “Behavior Rehearsal Lesson” is used to treat dangerous behavior that occurs only occasionally. The person is tied up and is forced to commit their wrongdoing. If she refuses, she will be electrocuted. If she follows the instruction to act in a dangerous manner, she will receive an even stronger electric shock.

This type of electrocution should not be confused, as a punishment intended to cause pain, with electroconvulsive therapy , in which patients are under short-term anesthesia and which is much less open to criticism. Positive reviews of electric shocks as a means of aversion therapy published in the scientific literature come mainly from staff at the Judge Rotenberg Center.

In response to allegations of mistreatment, the JRC replied that electric shocks would only be administered if positive reinforcement was found to be ineffective in preventing violent, self-harming behavior. In 2013, a third of around 240 patients were treated with electric shocks.

Matthew L. Israel

Matthew L. Israel, the eventual founder and long-time director of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, began studying at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1950 . At the beginning of his studies he came across the utopian novel Walden Two , in which the behavioral psychologist BF Skinner outlines the blueprint for a utopian society. In that fictional society, the behavior of the residents is manipulated for the benefit of society. For the next ten years, Israel studied with Skinner, who taught at Harvard University, and earned a doctorate in psychology in 1960. In a 2007 interview, Israel linked the founding story of the Behavior Research Institute with Skinner's novel Walden Two .

In 1966, Israel founded the Association for Social Design , the aim of which was to build a worldwide network of experimental communities. In 1967 such a commune was founded in Arlington, Massachusetts under Israel's leadership. The community broke up after a short time, as did a second commune in the South End district of Boston and the Association for Social Design . Israel later justified the failure with the fact that the members of the communities did not get along. Others blamed Israel's patriarchal leadership for the failure. Subsequently, Israel considered opening a school, initially to create jobs for the members of its planned community.

1971 to 1979

Founding of the Behavior Research Institute

In 1971 Israel founded the “Behavior Research Institute” in Providence , Rhode Island, as a day school with only two patients, an autistic and a schizophrenic . The following year the BRI was able to rent rooms in nearby Cranston , in the home of the parents of the schizophrenic patient. Around 1975 the "Behavior Research Institute" came to Seekonk, Massachusetts with another facility. In 1977, Israel established a branch in California that also supported two homes in Attleboro and Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Aversion therapy was already being used to a considerable extent in these early years; positive reinforcement with verbal praise or small rewards was also a means of treatment. On the other hand, psychotropic drugs were largely avoided. The means of aversion therapy at that time were still pinching, blows with a spoon, smelling salts and the forced wearing of a "noise helmet", which exposed the patient to strong acoustic stimuli. As early as 1979, New York State authorities, which had 15 patients at the time, published two reports on the methods of the Behavior Research Institute, in which signs of physical and emotional abuse were documented. In one of the reports it was stated about the effectiveness of the means of coercion that the patients relapsed into their old behavior as soon as the immediate threat of punishment no longer existed.

Early introduction of video surveillance

Since 1975 the Behavioral Research Institute has been using surveillance cameras in the rooms where students were treated. In later years the use of such cameras was cited as a measure to protect students. In fact, the institute has special staff only for acoustic and visual monitoring of the classrooms. The main task of these employees is to monitor the teachers, failure to punish the teacher leads to a telephone notification and is documented in order to be able to show them to the teacher in the event of repeated waiver of punishments. All of the classrooms and residential facilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center are now remotely monitored from a video room at the headquarters in Canton, Massachusetts.

1980 to 1989

Death in California in 1981

On July 17, 1981, at a facility operated by the Behavior Research Institute in Northridge , California, 14-year-old Danny Aswad died while he was handcuffed face down on his bed. A natural death was determined at the autopsy , however the facility was placed under a two-year probationary period by the regulatory agency, the California Department of Social Services . In 1982 the agency filed a 63-page complaint against the BRI. The deficiencies listed were that patients would be refused food as a punishment and that staff would be trained to cover up traces of abuse . In addition, patients were encouraged to re-enact forms of pathological behavior for a film about the BRI in order to show in the film how patients behaved before treatment. An agreement with the regulator banned the BRI from using any means of restraint other than splashing water, and Matthew L. Israel was banned from entering the Northridge facility.

1985 Massachusetts death and attempted closure

Vincent Milletich, 22, from Queens , New York City, attended a school at the Behavior Research Institute in Providence, Rhode Island with about 60 other patients. On July 23, 1985, after a seizure in the Seekonk, Massachusetts residential complex, he was handcuffed to a chair with a mask and a "noise helmet" on his head. Milletich choked, in a subsequent court case the BRI was found guilty of negligence because of the approval of the treatment and because of the inadequate supervision of it .

The responsible Office for Children of the state of Massachusetts ordered the closure of the Behavior Research Institute that same year. The Behavior Research Institute lodged a complaint against this and in turn sued the agency. In the following legal dispute, a judge suggested that the BRI should refrain from using coercive measures in the future. This did not happen because in 1986, at a hearing in Bristol County Guardianship Court, Matthew L. Israel demonstrated a patient who was suffering from a particularly severe form of self- harm. The presiding judge Ernest Rotenberg ruled that the patient was unable to make independent decisions about her therapy. If she could, she would choose the BRI.

In 1987, the Behavior Research Institute and the State of Massachusetts reached a settlement requiring the payment of $ 580,000 to the BRI. Judge Rotenberg allowed the BRI to use aversive drugs that did not include electric shocks at the time, as long as they were included in an individual treatment plan approved by the Guardianship Court. The Behavior Research Institute was thus largely beyond the control of the regulatory authorities in the future.

1990 to 1999

Massachusetts death in 1990

In 1990, Linda Cornelison, a student at the Behavior Research Institute, died. Linda was mentally retarded and unable to articulate herself. One day, on the bus ride to school, she started getting hit in the stomach area. When she arrived at school, she lay down on a sofa, but one of the nurses thought her symptoms of illness were fake. After school, Linda returned to her dormitory in Attleboro and received 61 individual corporal punishments from staff, including 13 spoon beating, 29 finger pinching and five forced inhalation of the fumes of smelling salts. Early in the morning of the following day, she died in a hospital from a gastric perforation . The Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation found in its investigation report that the school violated moral principles, but that neither the failure to provide medical care nor the use of coercive measures resulted in the death of the student.

Introduction of electric shock devices

After Linda Cornelison's death, Matthew L. Israel began using the Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (SIBIS) at the Behavior Research Institute. This instrument was intended to provide patients with self-endangering behavior with electric shocks lasting 0.2 seconds, which, according to the developers, leads to an almost complete cessation of such behavior. In addition, the device had the advantage that the punishments were standardized in contrast to manual action with pinching or punches. The BRI tested the devices on 29 students and found that the device did not work in all cases. The manufacturer rejected the request for a device with a higher voltage, whereupon the BRI began its own development. The Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED) developed at the Behavior Research Institute emitted about three times more electric shocks than the SIBIS, and the electric shocks lasted two seconds rather than 0.2 seconds.

New attempts at closure from 1991 to 1997

In 1991, Phillip Campbell, the newly appointed head of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation , took the introduction of electroshock devices as an opportunity to crack down on the Behavior Research Institute again . In the course of the following years of fighting, Campbell was proven, among other things, that he had given false information about the BRI to the press and that he had employed an investigative team made up of people who were biased against the BRI.

In 1994, after Rotenberg's death, the Behavior Research Institute changed its name to the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center “in order to preserve the memory of the judge who saved the program from collapse in the hands of state licensing authorities in the 1980s” (“ to honor the memory of the judge [who] helped to preserve [the] program from extinction at the hands of state licensing officials in the 1980's ”) .

In 1997, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Campbell and his agency were guilty of disregard for various acts, including perjury. There was no prosecution, but Campbell was forced to resign and the Judge Rotenberg Center received more than $ 1 million in legal costs. In addition, the court withdrew direct supervision of the Judge Rotenberg Center from the authority, and a lawyer appointed by the court was now responsible for issuing the license and other legal acts.

2000 to 2009

Increasing student numbers and sales

In the years following the recent success in a legal dispute, the Judge Rotenberg Center, which is mainly financed by means of state health care, experienced a strong economic boom. The number of students increased from 110 to 228 patients from ten different states between 2000 and 2007. The turnover rose from 18 to 56 million dollars. The number of facilities in operation rose to 33, mostly in the southern suburbs of Boston. At the same time, the orientation of the Judge Rotenberg Center changed. In the early years, the patients were predominantly affected by autistic disorders or were severely retarded in their mental development. Later, the JRC looked after pupils with behavioral problems , some of whom came from prison. This also led to the fact that education and therapy took a back seat to the disciplining of the students.

Criticism of the qualifications of employees (2006)

The majority of the employees of the Judge Rotenberg Center have no professional qualifications, most of the supervisors only have a school leaving certificate. In 2006, the Massachusetts State Regulatory Agency found that of the 17 psychologists employed by the JRC, 14, including the psychologist director, were not in possession of the required state license. In the following year, the Massachusetts Inspector General's Office , similar to the audit offices in German states, complained that the JRC could have billed up to $ 800,000 too much for the services of qualified psychologists in this context.

New York State Education Department investigation (2006)

The majority of the students at the Judge Rotenberg Center are from New York State and their housing is paid for by local school authorities or other public funds. Therefore, the JRC is also subject to the supervision of the New York Department of Education. During a review lasting several days, the authority produced a 26-page report in which numerous deficiencies were listed.

Students were given electric shocks because they begged for something, swore, or did not look nice. A girl was electrocuted when she asked for a handkerchief to blow her nose. Some students had to earn their meals through desirable behavior; if they did not meet the requirements, they were forced to throw some of their food in the trash. During the transport to school - the classrooms and living quarters are separate for most of the students - almost all of the students were handcuffed or shackled in some way. Schoolchildren could be fixed on cots or chairs for hours. Even so fixated students received electric shocks. The majority of the “teachers” in the classrooms did not have state certification as teachers. The electroshock devices designated by the JRC in self-promotion as “FDA approved” had no approval. The JRC did not check the coercive means used for possible negative consequences such as depression , anxiety or social deprivation .

As on other occasions, Matthew L. Israel reacted with extensive criticism of the agency, denying some of the allegations as untrue, accusing the officers of being biased and declaring with regard to the electric shocks: “There are no side effects of the GED it has to be taken into account ”.

Abuses 2007

In the early morning of August 26, 2007, a student who had fled the facility two weeks earlier called a dormitory at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Stoughton, Massachusetts, deceiving the nursing staff into posing as a worker in the video surveillance room. He called for two patients to be punished for misconduct before the night shift began, and one student should receive 60 electric shocks.

During the punishment of one of these students, which was documented on video tape, there was an argument lasting almost half an hour with up to six nurses, who finally fixed the student on a cot, although this patient was not legally bound to be handcuffed. Before and during restraint, the student received 70 to 77 electric shocks because the supervisors sometimes counted incorrectly. With almost every electric shock, they gave the student the specific reason for the punishment. This was provided for in the facility's rules, and giving an electric shock should always be accompanied by a justification. The second student received at least 28 electric shocks and suffered first-degree burns. The carers involved later stated that they were dependent on their jobs and therefore did what they were asked to do.

The videotape documenting the abuse of the students was destroyed after it was shown to investigators from the Disabled Persons Protection Commission . The destruction of the tape took place contrary to the official instructions to keep the tape.

Controversy since 2010

Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from 2004 to 2010

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2010)

On April 29, 2010, the American civil rights organization Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) filed a complaint with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture alleging that the patients at the Judge Rotenberg Center had been victims of human rights abuses because of the use of coercive measures. On May 11th, UN Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak sent an "urgent appeal for an investigation" to the United States government. He later pointed out in an interview that torture was absolutely prohibited: “ This is torture. (...) You cannot balance this. The prohibition of torture is absolute ”.

In response to the complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur, the Judge Rotenberg Center published a lengthy statement by Matthew L. Israel calling the Mental Disability Rights International initiative “nothing but the rumination of outdated, false and unproven allegations against the JRC”. Israel noted in an email to an investigative journalist for New York television station WNBC that its methods were often the last resort for severely disturbed individuals. They provided a safe, effective, and less stressful method of behavioral therapy that relieved patients of restraint, medication, self-mutilation and the severe pain associated with it. The publication also stated that the evidence cited by the MDRI was misrepresenting quotes from the JRC website and selectively reproduced statements from former students that only describe the treatments and not their effects on a better life. Israel said it would be torture to not treat these students and allow them to be chemically restrained and warehoused for the rest of the rest of their lives with medication for the rest of their lives their lives ”).

Evidence Destruction Trial (2011)

In May 2011, 77-year-old founder of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Matthew L. Israel, was charged with destroying evidence and influencing witnesses. He was charged with having commissioned an employee to destroy a video recording made in 2007. This recording documented the mistreatment of two students with dozens of electric shocks at the time. Investigators from the supervisory authority had asked Israel to keep the recording. As part of an agreement with the public prosecutor's office, he resigned the management of the center with effect from June 1, 2011 in order to avoid a prison sentence of several years. One of his probation requirements was that he would not be allowed to serve as a board member of the center in the future, nor would he be allowed to do any paid work there. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center was subsequently examined by a court-appointed expert to determine whether appropriate measures had been taken to rule out a repetition of such incidents in the future.

Lack of approval for electric shock devices (2011 to 2013)

The electric shock devices used in the Judge Rotenberg Center, the Graduated Electronic Decelerators (GED) , were developed by employees of the JRC and approved in 1994 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the approval authority for medical devices. Since the approval, the JRC has introduced new devices with more powerful electric shock twice. According to Judge Rotenberg Center founder Matthew L. Israel, the voltage increased as some students got used to the electric shock. The only side effects he could remember were " marks " that could remain visible for a few days.

As early as May 23, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration informed the Judge Rotenberg Center that the modified devices needed a new approval from the FDA. On June 29, 2012, the FDA sent another letter to the Judge Rotenberg Center. The company did not respond to either of the two letters, whereupon the FDA issued a formal warning to the JRC on December 6, 2012 and summoned its representative to a formal meeting on January 9, 2013 to ensure that the use of unauthorized devices is stopped . In January 2013, Brian A. Joyce asked the FDA to immediately prohibit the Judge Rotenberg Center from using the electric shock devices. The JRC has ignored the Food and Drug Administration's concerns for more than a year and a half, and the FDA has a unique opportunity to end "this barbaric system of punishing severely disabled children" immediately. A statement from the Judge Rotenberg Center said the JRC wants to work fully with the FDA and that the electric shock devices are approved by the Massachusetts courts as part of treatment plans for patients with the most dangerous forms of behavioral disorders.

Restriction of the use of means of restraint (2012)

Effective October 30, 2011, institutions operating under the supervision of the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) in Massachusetts, including those of the Judge Rotenberg Center, began treating newly admitted patients with strong coercive means such as electric shocks, long-term restraints, or other psychological Agents hazardous to health prohibited. Only patients for whom there were court-reviewed treatment plans on September 1, 2011, which included electric shocks, were allowed to continue to receive this treatment. 88 of the 233 students were among these patients with old, court-reviewed treatment plans.

The Judge Rotenberg Center also argued that its use of electric shocks was based on therapy plans set out in individual cases by the Guardianship Court. Nonetheless, the newly admitted patients until mid-2012 were not treated with electric shocks and the JRC had not appealed the Department of Developmental Services' order to that point. In his report on the worldwide use of torture published in March 2013, the UN special rapporteur criticized the fact that the regulation only protected new students from strong means of coercion such as electric shocks.

New litigation over ill-treatment from 2002 (2012)

Brian A. Joyce, Member of the Massachusetts Senate

In April 2012, the Judge Rotenberg Center and three of its staff came to a trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, a court in which the mother of a patient who was 18 years old at the age of 18 was described as autistic and slightly mentally retarded. According to the complaint, the student was immobilized on a cot for more than five hours in 2002 and received dozens of electric shocks during that time. A videotape was shown in the courtroom of the screaming and pleading for help student being shocked with electric batons while several nurses tried to overpower him. The video recording had already been partially shown in a civil case and was then broadcast on the news program Fox 25 News on the Boston-based television station WXFT. The victim's mother alleged that her son had suffered permanent damage from the abuse and that he was now being placed in a state facility and given strong medication.

The JRC lawyers replied that all of the acts seen on the videotape were in accordance with the patient's court-approved treatment plan. A statement from the Judge Rotenberg Center said that the aversion therapy resources used were appropriate and that the videotape only existed because the JRC used cameras in every room where students were treated. The JRC is the only institution that does this, and it is done to protect the students entrusted to it and to be able to monitor any use of electric shocks. The legal dispute was settled in spring 2012.

Contributing to the renewed public debate about the JRC's treatments was Brian A. Joyce , a member of the Massachusetts Senate in whose electoral district the JRC is located. Joyce says she has been opposing the practices of the JRC for more than 20 years and has tabled a number of legislative proposals, all of which have failed due to opposition in the Massachusetts House of Representatives , which includes some supporters of the JRC.

The mother of the student, who was abused in 2002, and a former JRC employee who claims to have shocked patients himself, handed a petition to the Massachusetts General Court in May 2012 with 215,000 signatures on Change.org . The petition called on lawmakers to ban the use of electric shocks to treat disabled students.

Critique of the National Council on Disability (2012)

In its report on US disability policy published on September 18, 2012, the National Council on Disability (NCD) , an independent federal agency, named the Judge Rotenberg Center and criticized the means of coercion used there. The affairs of the JRC were a matter of national importance and the National Council on Disability urged the Justice Department in April 2012 to expedite an investigation into the JRC and to publish the results. The council recommended closing the JRC and supporting the Massachusetts state ban on electric shock as a therapeutic agent.

Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture since 2010

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2012-2013)

The 2002 case led to a re-investigation by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture , Juan E. Méndez . Méndez said in an interview with Fox 25 television in June 2012 that electric shocks were clearly associated with pain and suffering. The assessment now depends on the duration and strength of the electric shocks and on the intended purpose.

In his report on the use of torture around the world, published in March 2013, the Special Representative, referring to the Judge Rotenberg Center, stated that some of the methods used in the United States to treat autism were torture. Méndez praised a number of measures taken by the State of Massachusetts to date and an ongoing Justice Department investigation into possible violations of civil rights laws. He also referred to the New York State Memorandum of Understanding that until June 2014, students staying at the JRC would be placed in facilities within the state where electric shocks were not allowed. Méndez expressed concern, however, that the Judge Rotenberg Center could only move to another state if it was no longer possible to continue operating in Massachusetts. He called for federal action to stop the use of strong coercive measures across the United States.

End of Medicaid funding (2012 to 2013)

In December 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services , a federal agency responsible for administering public health services, announced that they would not provide any future funding from the Medicaid program to patients in facilities that use electroshock as a coercive measure . This also applies if the patient in question does not receive any electric shocks himself. The new regulation came into force in spring 2013. The agency started informing patients and their families at the beginning of the year that they would have to move to another facility or waive state aid.

Massachusetts State Lawsuit (2013)

On February 14, 2013, the Massachusetts state government filed a lawsuit against the 1987 agreement that has since allowed the Judge Rotenberg Center to operate under largely excluded regulatory oversight. The government claimed that the agreement at that time no longer corresponded to modern knowledge. Today there is overwhelming consensus among experts that causing pain and discomfort from electric shock is inappropriate and does not meet standards of care. A lawyer for the Judge Rotenberg Center commented on the government's move that the facts, law, or state of the art had not changed. The government only wants to ban means of coercion.

The short-term implications of a possible success of the lawsuit for treating patients at the Judge Rotenberg Center are unclear. What is certain is that a positive decision would give the authorities more leverage and that the use of electric shocks could play a role in future decisions about license renewals or other regulatory measures.

Different reactions from affected parents

Regardless of public criticism, many parents concerned want to continue using electric shocks because it is the only treatment that works for their children. The JRC was commended for giving parents and children the opportunity to live together. A number of parents welcomed their involvement in the therapy and the absolute transparency of the care guaranteed by video surveillance. The largely avoidance of psychotropic drugs is also described as positive, especially by parents whose children have had long-term drug treatment. In addition, the JRC accepts almost all patients, including those who have been turned away by other institutions for their violent behavior. The appeals of helpless and desperate parents for the preservation of the Judge Rotenberg Center are seen as a major reason for the repeated failure of government and parliamentary efforts to close the JRC. In the dispute over the JRC, it was repeatedly argued that electric shocks were necessary to treat patients with the most severe disorders so that they would not harm themselves or others.

Other parents have been critical of the JRC's methods in the past. Some have sued the school for the use of coercive measures and are participating in the protest against the JRC led by various organizations.

literature

  • Hilke Kuhlmann: Living "Walden Two". BF Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities , University of Illinois Press, Champaign (Illinois) 2005, ISBN 978-0-252-02962-2 (a representation of various communities based on Skinner's utopian novel "Walden Two," including Matthew L. Israel's municipalities in the 1960s)
  • WMWJ Van Oorsouw et al .: Side effects of contingent shock treatment . In: Research in Developmental Disabilities , Volume 29, Number 6, 2008, pp. 513-523, doi: 10.1016 / j.ridd.2007.08.005 (an example of the numerous publications from the JRC environment, here with Matthew L. Israel as a second author)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jennifer Gonnerman: School of Shock . In: Mother Jones Magazine , August 20, 2007, motherjones.com, accessed January 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Chelsea Conaboy: Patrick fights Rotenberg shock therapy decree . In: The Boston Globe , February 16, 2013, bostonglobe.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b c d Patricia Wen: Center hasn't challenged aversion therapy rules. Rules that curb practice untested . In: The Boston Globe , May 28, 2012, accessed from boston.com on January 16, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b c d Laurie Ahern, Eric Rosenthal: Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture , Mental Disability Rights International, Washington DC 2010, pp. 1–4, Internet Archive ( Memento of October 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.6 MB) accessed on 16 . January 2014.
  5. ↑ a b c without author: Director of Judge Rotenberg Educational Center Indicted in Connection with Destroying Evidence in a Criminal Investigation . Press release from the Attorney General of Massachusetts dated May 25, 2011, mass.gov accessed January 14, 2014
  6. ^ A b Christopher Burrell: Canton school's director to quit over electrical shocks case . In: The Patriot Ledger , May 25, 2011, patriotledger.com.Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ a b c d Emily Willingham: Autism Shock Therapy Practiced In US Is Torture, Says UN Official . In: Forbes , March 8, 2013, forbes.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Jay Turner: Lawsuit, video thrust JRC back into national spotlight . In: Canton Citizen , April 18, 2012, thecantoncitizen.com.Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  9. ↑ a b c Maia Szalavitz: UN Report Suggests Some Autism & Addiction Treatments Are Akin to Torture . In: Time , March 6, 2013, healthland.time.com, accessed January 16, 2014.
  10. ↑ a b United Nations Human Rights Council (ed.): Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez. Addendum. Observations on communications transmitted to Governments and replies received , United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Document A / HRC / 22/53 / Add. 4, 2013, pp. 83–84, ohchr.org (PDF; 810 kB) on January 16, 2014.
  11. ↑ Patricia Wen: Showdown over shock therapy . In: The Boston Globe , January 17, 2008, accessed from boston.com on January 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ a b c d e Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 4, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  13. ↑ a b c Rusty Kindlon et al .: Observations and Findings of Out-of-State Program Visitation Judge Rotenberg Educational Center , New York State Education Department, Albany, NY 2006, boston.com (PDF; 135 kB) accessed on 17. January 2014.
  14. ↑ a b Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 1, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  15. ↑ Jennifer Gonnerman: Matthew Israel Interviewed by Jennifer Gonnerman . In: Mother Jones Magazine , August 20, 2007, motherjones.com, accessed January 17, 2014.
  16. ↑ a b c d e Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 2, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  17. ^ Laurie Ahern, Eric Rosenthal: Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center. P. 8.
  18. ↑ a b Jennifer Gonnerman: 31 Shocks Later . In: New York Magazine , September 2, 2012, nymag.com. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  19. ↑ a b c d e Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 3, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  20. ↑ Matthew L. Israel: History of JRC , website of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, undated , judgerc.net ( memento of the original from March 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on January 15, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.judgerc.net
  21. ^ Laurie Ahern, Eric Rosenthal: Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Pp. 7-8.
  22. ↑ a b c Jennifer Gonnerman: Nagging? Zap. Swearing? Zap . In: Mother Jones Magazine , August 20, 2007, motherjones.com, accessed January 17, 2014.
  23. ^ A b c Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 5, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  24. ↑ a b School destroyed video it was ordered to preserve of students being shocked . In: The Seattle Times , January 18, 2008, seattletimes.nwsource.com.Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  25. ↑ Eric Rosenthal, Laurie Ahern: When Treatment is Torture: Protecting People with Disabilities Detained in Institutions . In: The Human Rights Brief , Volume 19, Number 2, 2012, pp. 13-17, american.edu (PDF; 150 kB), accessed on January 16, 2014.
  26. ^ Katie Hinman, Kimberly Brown: UN Calls Shock Treatment at Mass. School 'Torture' . In: ABC News , June 30, 2010, abcnews.go.com.Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  27. ↑ JRC Response to Tim Minton's Story on WNBCTV on the MDRA Appeal , email from the Judge Rotenberg Center, undated ( 2010), judgerc.net ( memento of the original from January 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 36 kB) accessed on January 15, 2014.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.judgerc.net
  28. ↑ a b c Julie M. Donnelly: FDA warns Judge Rotenberg Center over shock devices . In: Boston Business Journal , December 12, 2012, bizjournals.com.Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  29. ↑ without author: Joyce asks FDA to stop skin shocks at JRC . In: Canton Citizen , January 17, 2013, thecantoncitizen.com.Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  30. ↑ a b Christopher J. Girard: Protesters urge ban on use of shock therapy at center . In: The Boston Globe , June 3, 2012, docs.google.com, accessed January 15, 2014.
  31. ↑ without author: Former JRC teacher lobbies state lawmakers . In: Canton Citizen , May 17, 2012, thecantoncitizen.com.Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  32. ^ National Council on Disability (Ed.): National Disability Policy: A Progress Report . National Council on Disability, Washington DC 2012, pp. 67–68, ncd.gov ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.5 MB) accessed on January 15, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ncd.gov
  33. ^ Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 7, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.
  34. ^ Paul Kix: The Shocking Truth . In: Boston Magazine , July 2008, p. 6, bostonmagazine.com (page number after the online document), accessed January 15, 2014.

Coordinates: 42 ° 10 '38.4 "  N , 71 ° 6' 42.9"  W.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 7, 2014 .