In July 2014, Youth Law Center and 10 community organizations filed a complaint with the United States Department of Justice calling for an investigation of pepper-spray use and behavior-management practices in San Diego County juvenile facilities. An analysis of 2012 to 2013 documents had revealed hundreds of incidents in which pepper spray was used -- almost exclusively on Black and Latino youth, sometimes on kids as young as 12. These were youth who wouldn't follow verbal instructions, wouldn't come out of their room, were fighting or were at risk of harming themselves -- in short, kids acting the way young people do in schools, homes and communities across America.
San Diego Probation has consistently claimed that pepper spray is needed to protect the safety of the institution, in part, because it houses youth who are more dangerous and aggressive than in the past. But nationally, the vast majority of juvenile facilities do not use pepper spray at all. A 2011 survey by the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators found that only 29 percent of juvenile detention centers use any pepper spray, and of those, only 12 percent allow staff to carry it on their person. And surely, San Diego's kids are no more dangerous or challenging than those in Chicago or New York City facilities, where pepper spray is not used.
[For more of this story, written by Sue Burrell, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-burrell/pepper-spraying-youth-in-_b_5651391.html]
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