TORTURE IN OUR MIDST? Heidi Boghosian, National Lawyers Guild

Each day more police departments arm their officers with electroshock devices manufactured by Taser International. Abuse of Tasers, which deliver a staggering 50,000 volts of electricity, is rampant, as are strong-arm tactics by the company to avoid accountability. A few facts highlight the need for research, standardization and oversight:

+ Nearly 300 people in the United States have been killed in Taser-related deaths over the past seven years. Police use them often against people posing no danger to officers or others, even against pregnant women, the elderly, or those just slow to follow orders.

+ The United Nations Committee Against Torture calls one model, the Taser X26, a form of torture because of the degree of pain it inflicts.

+ Medical examiners are afraid to rule Tasers as causing or contributing to fatalities out of fear of retribution. In meetings with coroners, Taser International has actually threatened to sue if their guns are cited on death certificates.

+ TASER International has ties to law enforcement, and has given blocks of stock options to police officials in exchange for promoting its guns. For example, former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was given 85,000 taser options. Kerik promoted the gun to law enforcement and made over $6 million.

The National Association of Medical Examiners has created a database to help coroners determine cause of death in Taser-related incidents and to develop guidelines on investigating and certifying deaths. This is just a start. The public should demand impartial studies of how police use stun guns and call for national standards to avoid their misuse, which in many cases actually rises to the level of torture.

Heidi Boghosian is the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild and co-host of the radio show Law and Disorder.