See my other post on the other thread like this.

I personally am in favor of juvenile corrections staff carrying at least OC Spray if not tasers. I am new to working adult corrections, but I did spend a while working juvenile corrections at place that is basically a halfway house. we housed kids from ages 8 to 18. when I started we had 23 kids there and 21 of them were sexual offenders. Most of these kids were under 15. What I experienced is, these are not children anymore. They are in fact criminals. They will hit a person, regardless of who it is.
I have seen these kids given 70mg of thorazine and it didn’t even phase them. In a case like this, minors or not, staff should be equipped and trained in the use of OC spray and tasers. As it was, we were trained in the Mandt system. The only thing I ever saw this was good for was getting staff injured. Some of these jobs do not pay enough that a man, supporting a family, can afford time off, not even for an injury. The theory there was forgive and forget, but when a staff member gets seriously injured and can’t work, it is time to change things around. give the staff a chance to defend themselves, even against minors.

Exactly Campi, this gets back to why I refer to the sheep not liking us because we look like the wolf, but by goodness they want us there to protect the flock when the wolf is at the door. It is a tough field for us to be in but we accept that relationship when we began. But it sucks sometimes.

The issue your fighting is when people think juvi they do not see the 16-18 year old young adults that make up the majority of the population. They see the 12 year old that just got slammed to the ground. They do not care this 12 year old just tried to stab the staff member with a pencil. They see the poor neglected child that was not raised properly. OC (Pepper Spray for all the inmate huggers who don’t work corrections) and tasers are both very good and effective less than lethal items. The fact is when less then lethal items are used it is safer for both the staff and the inmate. The item disables the combative inmate. I myself have been hit by both and even as tough as I think myself to be. The OC we now use is 5.3 million Scholfield Units. This stuff takes the fight out of you in a heartbeat if applied to the face or if it is breathed in. Tasers on the other hand literally take away your ability to control your movements and deal a fair amount of pain. The issue is the public will not let us do our jobs and assume that we simply run around zapping and spraying inmates who do nothing because they only see when officers screw up. They do not see every day when we do a good job where combative inmates or groups of inmates are subdued with little to no injuries to either staff or inmates. They do not see when an escape attempt is thwarted and lethal force is not used. They report about how we shot a man as he escapes. The public and media is honestly the biggest issue corrections have. The fact that a convicted murderer can kill himself and because a guard is late doing a round the family can sue the pants off that person is absurd. This is also why the admin at correctional facilities are reluctant to issue less then lethal items to officers because they fear the lawsuits that will come when a big strong guard bullies a poor innocent juvi by using their pepper spray on them.

Juvenile offenders are just as dangerous as adult offenders no matter how ya want to look at it. The times have changed and so has the mentality of how we treat Juveniles. When I worked as a Reserve Police Officer I removed a .45 caliber pistol from a 12 year old kid at the Friday night football game. He said he carried it for protection from other bigger kids and if this 12 year old kid can figure out he needs something to protect himself then why can’t we?

I do not understand the rational of any officer in a prison not carrying a Taser, spray and baton on duty. We kid ourselves by thinking we have control of our enviroment, we are given control by the offenders we watch over. Besides if we are equiped with the proper tools we can manage our inmate populations more effectively, even juveniles know Tazers, spray and batons hurt when applied.

Check out other prisons around the real world, they actually carry guns but in our perfect American bubble we are affraid of guns. We worry way to much about their rights and not our right to protect ourselves in the line of duty. When I was 18 years old in Army I was given a machine gun and taught how to shoot it like a true Infantryman should, but we treat professionals in our field like kids and restrict what they can use in our field???

I agree quit treating these troubled youths like they are innocent because they are not and as always be safe.

They are being tried as adults. Nebraska still has the death penalty, but sparingly carried out.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140219/NEWS/140218453/1685

Link to article

Hope these “juvenile offenders” are tried as “adult criminals”. This is why I dispise the coddle game played in todays system.

Sadly another one of us had to pay the ultimate price that could so easily been avoided. Prayers will be with the family.

A 24yr old female Corrections Officer was laid to rest today in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Amanda Baker was allegedly killed by 2 juveniles in a Scottsbluff detention center last Friday during an escape attempt. We here at Douglas County pray for the family of Amanda Baker to find peace. Many representatives form local and out of state departments attended the funeral. We are so sorry for losing an officer so young. She was pronounced brain dead after the attack and murder, but the organs were donated to hopefully provide life for others. All our love and prayers. Squeeze Ask the question now?

I think tasers should be allowed in juvenile corrections. It’s about safety of staff. I work in a juvenile facility that has no less than lethal weapons like taser or o.c. But have murderers, armed robbers, sexual predictors. The system is broke.

Absolutely not allowed. The National Partnership for Juvenile Services is releasing a Position Statement which states the same thing.

Does your agency have a policy about the use of Tasers in a juvenile facility?

Looking for information in a juvenile correctional capacity only.