Rob Poggenklass says will never forget the first time he saw a child who had been shackled by the local sheriff.
"When I saw this in Charlottesville, I heard the shackles before I saw the child," he remembers.
Poggenklass is executive director of Justice Forward Virginia, and he was in a courtroom of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Charlottesville. "It was a young man who was shackled at his legs, shackled with arms and both of those were shackled to a band that went around his waist. And so, he came in and sat down and was sat down through the entirety of his court proceeding."
That's why he is working on a bill that would require a judge to make an individual determination about whether a juvenile needs to be shackled rather than allowing sheriffs to indiscriminately shackle every juvenile who appears before a judge.
John Jones at the Virginia Sheriffs' Association says that's a terrible idea.
"Because it is the sheriff's statutory duty to secure the courts. And to turn that over to anyone else but to still hold the sheriff responsible may not be the best course," Jones argues.
He says sheriffs across Virginia will oppose any effort that would give judges the responsibility.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
