In response to an incident where Syracuse City Police handcuffed an 11-year-old girl during questioning. College of Law faculty, students, and alumni wrote the Guest Opinion article “Automatically handcuffing people during police stops violates the Constitution” at Syracuse.com.
Contributors are Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence and Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Lauryn Gouldin, director of the Syracuse Civics Initiative; Martin Feinman L’83 former director of Juvenile Justice Training for the Legal Aid Society of New York, Juvenile Rights Practice; Jocelyn Anctil G’25, L’25; Megan Hartman L’26, and Nicholas Marasco L’25.
They write: “Court decisions (and even police training manuals) from across the state and country make clear that automatically handcuffing people during stops is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Although handcuffs may be used when specific, individualized safety or flight risks are alleged, the facts available from media reports and the video of the stop do not provide support for the use of handcuffs during the stop shown in that video.
Police might prefer to use handcuffs in an excess of caution. And, of course, police work involves important exercises of caution. But the Constitution requires that caution be balanced against the liberty and dignity of people — especially children — who interact with police. Excesses of caution are unconstitutional.”