Restraining Devices

Stun belts, which discharge debilitating electric shocks, should no longer be strapped to defendants in courtrooms unless there are no less onerous alternatives, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a broad opinion by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the court made it difficult, if not impossible, for judges to order defendants to wear the security belts while testifying during criminal trials.

Police and prosecutors have a new way to prevent domestic violence: Offenders now must wear an ankle bracelet that sets off an alarm when they get too close to their victims. The device uses cellphone triangulation and global positioning to alert authorities and battered women or other domestic violence victims if the wearer enters an "exclusion zone," usually the area around a victim's home, school or job.

An elementary school principal in McGeehee, about 100 miles southeast of Little Rock, has been charged with battery against a minor for allegedly handcuffing an unruly 9-year-old student as a punishment. Alvis Hooks, 59, faces misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly bruising and cutting the wrist of the student, whom he forced to walk back to his classroom while handcuffed. Hooks will remain on suspension with pay until a court date in January, prosecutors said.

Lindsay Lohan and her handlers had hoped to keep her sobriety going with a special ankle bracelet that monitored her alcohol intake through her perspiration. Instead the technology -- sometimes imposed by Los Angeles County authorities and used by other celebrities trying to go straight -- just helped chronicle her fall off the wagon. The 21-year-old actress was arrested Tuesday after the mother of one of Lohan's assistants dialed 911 to report that she was being chased by Lohan in her SUV.

Pregnant prisoners in Arkansas will no longer be shackled while in labor, under a new state Department of Correction policy. Women considered risky will be held with soft restraints and all other pregnant prisoners will be under a guard's supervision. The changes follow a complaint by an inmate who gave birth and said she was shackled during much of her labor and chained again shortly after she had her baby.

Police and prosecutors have a new way to prevent domestic violence: Offenders now must wear an ankle bracelet that sets off an alarm when they get too close to their victims. The device uses cellphone triangulation and global positioning to alert authorities and battered women or other domestic violence victims if the wearer enters an "exclusion zone," usually the area around a victim's home, school or job.

Hundreds of people across the nation have died after being restrained in psychiatric and mental retardation facilities in the last decade, the Hartford Courant reported. The newspaper's investigation confirmed 142 restraint-related deaths, many involving children, since 1988. The true death count may be three to 10 times higher because many cases are not reported to authorities, according to a statistical estimate commissioned by the Courant.

A defendant jolted with 50,000 volts of electricity for interrupting a judge at his June sentencing hearing was awarded a new trial Friday. Long Beach Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean said he "reluctantly and regretfully" granted Ronnie Hawkins' request, adding that, because he was acting as his own lawyer, Hawkins should not have been thrown out of court during his three-strikes trial in April.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday barring criminal defendants from being forced to wear stun belts in Los Angeles County courts. The belts, concealed under the clothing of potentially unruly defendants, are activated by remote control, delivering 50,000 volts of low-amperage electricity. U.S.

A man who won a new trial on theft charges after being shocked with a stun belt during a court appearance last summer was found guilty again Wednesday by a jury in Long Beach. Ronnie Charles Hawkins, 48, was convicted of petty theft with a prior conviction for the same offense, a felony that may qualify as his third strike under California law.

After a series of violent incidents on school campuses, public school officials here are considering the use of flexible plastic handcuffs on out-of-control students -- from kindergarteners on up. The Milwaukee School Board voted Thursday to begin training security staff members to use the plastic handcuffs, but the issue has provoked a heated debate between parents and administrators over how to provide a safe learning environment.

In these dog days of August, lawmakers, hunters, animal advocates and the occasional celebrity are battling over whether to ban the tethering of canines in California. A measure that would generally bar tethering, on track to clear the Legislature as soon as next week, has set off a fierce debate about whether dogs chained for long periods of time are more likely to turn aggressive.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned the U.S. Marshals Service's policy of shackling defendants' legs when they make their initial appearances in district court. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the marshals had not adequately explained why leg shackling was needed. However, the court said the policy could be reinstated if a justification based on past or present problems was presented.

Pregnant prisoners in Arkansas will no longer be shackled while in labor, under a new state Department of Correction policy. Women considered risky will be held with soft restraints and all other pregnant prisoners will be under a guard's supervision. The changes follow a complaint by an inmate who gave birth and said she was shackled during much of her labor and chained again shortly after she had her baby.

They have restrained some of history's most infamous killers, but Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered his deputies to turn in more than a thousand pairs of handcuffs made by a 223-year-old British company because they may be hurting suspects' wrists. "It appears the engineering may cause injuries," Baca said of the steel cuffs made by Hiatt & Co. Ltd. "That is not our intent or our policy." Anyone in handcuffs who struggles can be injured, Baca said.

An elementary school principal in McGeehee, about 100 miles southeast of Little Rock, has been charged with battery against a minor for allegedly handcuffing an unruly 9-year-old student as a punishment. Alvis Hooks, 59, faces misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly bruising and cutting the wrist of the student, whom he forced to walk back to his classroom while handcuffed. Hooks will remain on suspension with pay until a court date in January, prosecutors said.

Spurred in part by a Long Beach, Calif., judge's controversial use of a stun belt last June, Amnesty International on Tuesday unveiled a yearlong campaign targeting the use of "high-tech repression tools" by U.S. law enforcement officials. The human rights organization is calling for a ban on the use of electroshock devices and chemical sprays by law enforcement personnel until the physical consequences of their use is more fully examined. "Law enforcement officials . . .

Amnesty International weighed in Monday in support of a $50-million civil rights lawsuit filed by a criminal defendant who was jolted with 50,000 volts of electricity during a courtroom confrontation with a Long Beach municipal judge. The London-based human rights organization said use of the remote-controlled stun belt could violate international treaties banning torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

Stun belts, which discharge debilitating electric shocks, should no longer be strapped to defendants in courtrooms unless there are no less onerous alternatives, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a broad opinion by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the court made it difficult, if not impossible, for judges to order defendants to wear the security belts while testifying during criminal trials.

A Long Beach man whose criminal case captured national attention when he was jolted in court with a 50,000-volt stun belt is appealing his 25-years-to-life sentence for petty theft received under the three-strikes law. Ronnie Hawkins, a 50-year-old with AIDS whose courtroom outbursts prompted the jolt, filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday designed to win his release or a reduction in his sentence. The petition, filed by Venice civil rights attorney Steve Yagman, asks that Dist.