OUT OF ORDER

Judge Facing Backlash After Teenager Put in Jail Clothes and Cuffs During Field Trip

A Detroit area judge’s behavior was called “unacceptable” after he made an example out of a minor visiting his courtroom because he “didn’t like the child’s attitude.”

A Detroit area judge’s response to a teenager sleeping in his courtroom during a field trip is being called into question after the minor was cuffed, admonished in front of her peers and put in jail clothing. On Tuesday, the nonprofit Greening of Detroit took students to visit Detroit’s 36th District Court on a field trip. When a student fell asleep during court proceedings, Hon. Judge Kenneth J. King singled out the 16-year-old for “disrespecting” the court and giving him “attitude.” Having a court officer bring the student before him, King told her, “You sleep at home in your bed, not in court.” King told WXYZ (7 News Detroit) that it was the student’s “whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me.” After threatening to jail the student, King told WXYZ that he was “probably not” going to go through with it. “Could I have? Probably so,” he said. “That was my own version of Scared Straight.” Amid community backlash, a video of Tuesday’s court proceedings, which includes the incident, has been deleted from the court’s YouTube account. In a statement Greening of Detroit called King’s behavior “unacceptable.” “We have spoken to the student and her parents and the young lady was traumatized by the Judge’s unnecessary disciplinary treatment and scolding,” they wrote.