This morning, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill that bars the use of handcuffs on children below the age of 14. A bill signing ceremony was held at The Carver in Norwalk, a youth development center.

“I’m so excited to co-author this piece of legislation because, you know, all too often I have experienced the ease with which young black and brown men who often look like me fall in the crushing yoke of injustice by an inherently prejudicial criminal legal system,” said Sen. Herron Gaston (D-Bridgeport). “I believe Tavis Smiley said it best, when you look at the criminal justice system, you oftentimes see just us.”

Gaston was one of a handful of state officials and criminal justice advocates who spoke in support of the bill’s passage, most notably the House Judiciary Chair, Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport), and Lamont himself.

The bill prevents police from handcuffing minors they know to be below the age of 14 in cases where they have not already been convicted of a crime, such as in response to a call. The only exceptions provided by the bill are instances where handcuffing is deemed necessary to preserve public safety or in which the child is using or threatening to use violence.

Gaston said that he knows firsthand what it is like to be handcuffed as a minor, and shared that when he was 14, he and his brother were apprehended by police for driving a “suspicious vehicle.” He described the incident as traumatic, and said that he still remembers “the chilling effect of having a gun behind my ear.”

“I can tell you that that had a psychological impact on me for a very long time,” said Gaston. “The trauma that created, the hysteria that created, the lack of trust that I developed for public institutions like our police.”

Gaston said that “not every police officer is a bad police officer, but there are bad actors out there” whose actions impact youth like himself. Stafstrom said that the act of handcuffing is a “traumatic experience” that “we need to think long and hard about” before doing to a child. Stafstrom asserted that the bill would not limit officers in their ability to do their job.

“This bill does not prevent a police officer from handcuffing someone,” said Stafstrom. “What it does is it says stop and think. Stop and think whether that child, based on what they did or rather what they are alleged to have done, deserves to go through that traumatic experience of being handcuffed.”

The Connecticut Police Chiefs Association previously submitted public testimony critical of the bill, claiming it was “concerned” with the handcuff provision.

“Officers’ decisions to handcuff a juvenile or individuals are determined by the offender’s actions, number of individuals involved, type of call and/or information discovered that is a concern for public safety,” read the testimony. “This comes first before determining the name and age of a juvenile or involved individuals. Additionally, handcuffs are used as a way to protect the officer, victims of crimes and the individual being arrested.”

Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Middlefield), a Ranking Member on the State’s Judiciary Committee, released a statement today critical of the bill, claiming its passage takes the state “another step away from accountability and law and order.”

“By signing this law to prohibit police from handcuffing individuals under the age of fourteen except in very limited circumstances, the governor placed figurative handcuffs on the brave men and women of law enforcement who strive to keep each of us safe,” said Fishbein. “It’s yet another attack on police pursued under the guise of protecting minor offenders, despite the legitimate concerns of responding officers who are forced to make split second decisions to protect public safety.”

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