Torture not Treatment - Disability Rights International

TORTURE NOT TREATMENT
Introduction
The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) was founded by psychologist Matthew Israel almost 40 years
ago in California when it was known then as the Behavior Research Institute (BRI) . According
to Israel, the school‘s philosophy is based on the work of renowned behaviorist B.F. Skinner. 2 In
the 1950s, Israel was a student of Skinner‘s at Harvard University, and today he is a selfproclaimed
devotee of radical behaviorism.
In 1981, a 14 year old boy died face down, tied to his bed. JRC (then known as BRI) was not
held responsible for the boy‘s death, but the death resulted in an investigation by California‘s
Department of Social Services. California issued a critical report the following year, citing
widespread abuse of children at the facility and the state of California greatly limited the use of
punishment as treatment. 3 The facility was then moved to Rhode Island and then again to
Canton, Massachusetts, where it is located today.
Today, JRC boasts a main campus with a school and offsite residential apartments with 24 hour
staffing. The facility serves as a residential school for children with disabilities, as well as a
residential facility for adults. There are approximately 200 children and adults at JRC at any
given time, 4 with costs paid for by state and local school districts and state agencies serving
adults with disabilities at approximately $220,000 per year, per person. People with disabilities
living at the JRC residential center mostly come from New York and Massachusetts, and seven
other states.
The Judge Rotenberg Center Program
The program of ―behavior modification‖ and ―aversive treatment‖ and the rationale for its use is
spelled out on JRC‘s website. The theory of behavior modification is that every human being
responds to positive rewards or negative punishments and that all behavior can be manipulated
through a combination of rewards and punishments. Using this approach, ―rewards‖ and
―punishments‖ constitute treatment. 5 Treatment entails the infliction of pain. JRC is clear that
this approach ―differs markedly‖ from ―traditional approaches‖ to mental health care. 6 The
website boasts that ―JRC is probably the most consistently behavioral treatment program in
existence.‖
JRC maintains that the same form of reward and punishment works for anyone, justifying a
―near-zero rejection policy‖ for admission. 7 As a result:
…we really pay relatively little attention to psychiatric diagnosis which are essentially
labels for groups of behaviors….Of the first two students we worked with, one was
labeled autistic and one was labeled schizophrenic. 8
6