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News > World

Nearly 100 Kids Tased by US School Officers in Last 5 Years

  • More and more school police officers are armed with Tasers, which are not used sparingly, according to a new analysis.

    More and more school police officers are armed with Tasers, which are not used sparingly, according to a new analysis. | Photo: AFP

Published 11 August 2016
Opinion

The number is likely deceptively low since the Huffington Post analysis was entirely based on media reports.

At least 84 children were Tasered at school in the past five years, which have seen an unprecedented rise in school police, according to an analysis by the Huffington Post published Thursday.

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Report: US Teachers Beat Black Kids Twice as Much as Whites

No records exist logging Taser usage in schools, so the count relied on media reports, though many cases likely never made it to local papers. The distribution of Tasers and of school police, though, has visibly risen, according to both state and federal numbers.

The 12 to 19-year-olds were disproportionately Black and were often reprimanded for insignificant acts: running away from the principal, fighting with other students or talking back to a police officer.

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The electric shock can have permanent effect on children, exposing them to greater risks of cardiac arrest and trauma against police, said a cardiologist and psychologist to the Huffington Post. Even the company that distributes to schools, Taser International, admits that Tasers “could increase the risk of death or serious injury” on children, and yet has distributed so many that even its vice president of strategic communications “can’t even keep track of it,” he told the Post.

Black students are also more likely to be arrested and suspended at school, according to multiple studies, which also have enduring effects on the child’s future education and employment options.

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