IANAL, so spitballing here, but it seems like this might be false imprisonment, given the use of handcuffs to restrain the student. It would be hard to argue this was a reasonable means of maintaining order when the student was not actively disrupting proceedings and when, say, simply having the kid ejected from the courtroom would have removed whatever disturbance was being presented.
It doesn’t seem that the handcuffing was connected to any sort of contempt proceeding. Judges are, as you note, given wide latitude to determine how to maintain order in their courts, but there are usually limits to how they can exercise their contempt power. It would seem, though, that handcuffing a student who is not actively disrupting proceedings or posing a threat without a formal contempt proceeding would be considered a due process violation, regardless. I expect having a member of the gallery handcuffed without being held in contempt exceeds that wide authority, so I wonder if the student couldn’t recover some damages for the tort.(Edit: Probably not, as judicial immunity would likely shield the judge from any civil action against him. There was a recent Sixth Circuit case—Orta v. Repp https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca6/23... —that upheld the immunity claim in a similar case of abuse of contempt power.[0])
But even if this incident is not criminally or civilly actionable, it is highly likely that the state judicial ethics commission might take a rather jaundiced view of such behavior.
[0] The record in the Orta case honestly makes this whole incident look trivial by comparison. If you want to see what it looks like when an asshole judge goes on a power trip, here you go: https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/3/2020/2020-O...
It should be noted Repp was later suspended for a year without pay by the Ohio Supreme Court.
> Humiliating school children is not a crime. Though it's a really shitty thing to do.
I don't think if I slap someone in handcuffs and force them to change clothes I'll be able to write it off as just "humiliating" them when the legal system comes calling.
Humiliating school children is not a crime. Though it's a really shitty thing to do .
>Can judges cast judgement on people who haven't been accused of anything?
A judge maintains order in their courtroom. They have a large amount of latitude in how they do that.
Even though it's a terrible thing to do, I don't believe anything illegal occurred.