Stop the Torture of Disabled Children at the Judge Rotenberg Center

Every year, New York and eight other states, including the District of Columbia, send people with autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, mental retardation, and other disabilities , aged three years old to adults, to the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts. The Center is run by a man named Dr. Matthew Israel. 

The "school's" website, www.judgerc.org/, claims the "school" has near zero rejections or expulsions, no use of psychotropic drugs, beautiful residences, and a consistent behavioral modification program. However, what Matthew Israel is hiding and isn't willing to tell the public is that "students" at his "school" are monitored by video surveillance cameras 24/7 and wear backpacks containing 10 pound devices with wires attached to electrodes on a student's arms, legs, and torso, which administer extremely painful shocks by remote controls held by staff members when "students" engage in behaviors deemed to be harmful or self-destructive. 

The "school's" website, www.judgerc.org/, claims the "school" has near zero rejections or expulsions, no use of psychotropic drugs, beautiful residences, and a consistent behavioral modification program.  However, what Matthew Israel is hiding and isn't willing to tell the public is that "students" at his "school" are monitored by video surveillance cameras 24/7 and wear backpacks containing 10 pound devices with wires attached to electrodes on a student's arms, legs, and torso, which administer extremely painful shocks by remote controls held by staff members when "students" engage in behaviors deemed to be harmful or self-destructive. 

Students are also forcibly restrained despite having known life-threatening medical conditions such as grand-mal epileptic seizures, denied socialization and recreation opportunities, and verbally abused by staff members.   One student was shocked over 5,000 times by staff members in one year alone.    There have been no less than 6 confirmed and documented deaths of students at the Center to date. 

This is no aberration, no violation of established procedure or staff acting on their own-it is procedure, and staff members who violate this brutal and inhumane regime are fired immediately.  

Matthew Israel claims that his Center is based on the Behavioralist psychological theories of B.F. Skinner, specifically the concept that painful sensations from the environment or otherwise, "aversives", will produce a conditioned response of caution. However, Skinner himself did not approve of using "aversives" on human beings. Modern sociology and psychology has established that traumatic experiences produce long-lasting and damaging effects such as Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD), inability to sleep regularly, inability to identify or form proper relationships with others, inability to empathize with others, and physiological changes in bodily functions.  

Massachusetts state child protective agencies, the United States Department of Justice, and the United Nations have all investigated the JRC with unequivocably condemningly reports. The United Nations defined the activities of Matthew Israel and his staff at the JRC as being torture, a crime against humanity. 
Worst of all, this terrible crime is paid for by taxpayers and parents. The JRC's fees and expenses are paid for by school districts and school boards, with the JRC's income being reported as $56 million a year. 

THIS IS PURE TORTURE ON INNOCENT CHILDREN. THE TIME TO STOP IT AND CLOSE THEM DOWN IS NOW.