“A Bristol County Probate and Family Court judge has sided with the Judge Rotenberg Center [JRC] in Canton, allowing the school to continue administering electric skin shocks.
The administration of former Gov. Deval Patrick tried to put a stop to the practice, which is known as an aversive treatment, in 2013, months after video surfaced of 18-year-old Andre McCollins receiving dozens of electric skin shocks at the center in 2002.
But Bristol Probate and Family Court Judge Katherine Field denied the motion in a ruling that came after a 44-day evidentiary hearing that ended in October 2016.
‘(The state) failed to demonstrate that there is now a professional consensus that the Level III aversive treatment used at JRC does not conform to the accepted standard of care for treating individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Field wrote in her June 20 ruling.’”
National disability organizations, such as AUCD, have expressed disappointment in the decision. ANCOR has joined other disability organizations in advocating against the use of electric shock devices and called for a ban of their use.
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