JRC Staffer Charged with Rape, Assault and Battery
April 9, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts, has been called “[o]ne of the most controversial schools in the country” dues to its use of electric skin shock—aversive stimulation—”to treat children and adults with the most severe cases of autism and emotional and behavioral challenges” (from a February 2007 ABC News report). Some parents whose children have been at the JRC have defended the school on the grounds that the JRC’s aversion therapy has been the only way to stop their children’s violent and self-injurious behavior (see this December 2007 New York Times story).
I seriously question the JRC’s “treatment” methods. There have also been reports of serious lapses in administrative protocol and staff supervision at the JRC: Back in August, a former JRC student made a prank phone call to the JRC staff; the former student pretended to be a supervisor and directed a staff member to administer a number of shocks to two current students. A December 22nd Boston Globe article described other practices at the the JRC that suggest that the services and education it provides are in need of significant revision and improvement.
And now, on April 1, JRC staff member Elliston Livingstone, 24, of Providence R.I., was arrested on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery, the April 3rd Wicked Local Norton report (ABFH also has a report). Livingstone is accused of assaulting another staff member.
A staff member charged with assaulting another staff member? Who is taking care of the students, the children?
That must be one of the worst schools I have ever heard of. It’s awful enough to be assaulted by other students and have the school staff passively reinforce it, but I can’t even imagine having to get treated that way from the staff. Especially since the sort of frustration of being in that situation would likely make me more self-injurious and defiant (as similar, minor-scale situations have shown to be true for me). I mean, really, people in this country throw a hissy fit over torture in places like Guantanimo Bay, when we are mistreating CHILDREN in our own borders! What a load of hypocrisy.
Reminds me of Lexi’s parents, from Autism the Musical. She’s the perfect victim, Lexi’s father said, because of her communication challenges. This has got to be every parent’s worst nightmare.