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75 percent of juveniles (are) still restrained with at least leg irons http://c-hit.org/2015/01/28/lawmakers-seek-to-limit-use-of-shackles-on-juveniles-in-court/ Concerns about the use of shackles on juveniles in court have prompted two lawmakers, Rep. Bruce Morris of Norwalk and Rep. Toni Walker of New Haven, to introduce legislation to limit the use of restraints. Under current policy, juveniles are normally shackled when being transported from detention centers to the courthouse, and whether or not the restraints stay on in the courtroom depends on an assessment of the child's behavior in detention. But advocates say the policy is not followed consistently. "What I've heard from the public defenders is that unless they ask to have the shackles taken off, most of the time they don't come off," saidChristine Rapillo<http://www.facjj.org/bio/c_Rapillo.html>, director of delinquency defense and child protection for the Connecticut Office of the Chief Public Defender, who supervises public defenders for juveniles. "The legislation would essentially create a presumption that a child would not be shackled in a courtroom unless the court made an affirmative ruling," said Marisa Halm, director of TeamChild Juvenile Justice Project at the Center for Children's Advocacy.<http://www.kidscounsel.org/> Julian Ford, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice at the University of Connecticut Health Center,<http://psychiatry.uchc.edu/child_adolescent/child_trauma.html> said restraints can be especially traumatizing to juvenile offenders. "Shackling is not only public embarrassment and physical restraint." Ford said. "It reinforces the idea that they are viewed by society and the community as people who are bad and need to be restrained." Read the full article on C-HIT http://c-hit.org/2015/01/28/lawmakers-seek-to-limit-use-of-shackles-on-juveniles-in-court/