What is a Tazer? Behavior Modification With Tazers

The use of tazers, as weapons for behavioral control is becoming alarming, as well as increasingly controversial because of the number of deaths associated with their usage. To many people, death related to the use of tazers as weapons appears to be cruel, harsh and senseless. It is important to understand what a tazer is and how it functions as a weapon. Is the use of a tazer acceptable, or are there better answers for behavior control?

What is a tazer?

“Tasers are hand-held weapons that deliver a jolt of electricity through a pair of wires propelled by compressed air from up to 10.6 metres away.”

How does a tazer work?

“The jolt stuns the target by causing an uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue. The target is immobilized and falls to the ground — regardless of pain tolerance or mental focus.”

What does the word Taser mean?

“Taser stands for "Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle."

The question becomes one of whether electric rifles are acceptable as weapons used in behavior control. Unlike a rifle, the tazer administers an electro-shock to its target.

Should tazers be used?

Deaths associated with or related to the use of tazers as weapons raise some serious issues. Is the actual cause of death in each instance the electroshock administered with a tazer or are there other factors involved?

“Some psychologists say the cause is a rare condition called "excited delirium" and not the obvious common element — the use of a Taser.”

What is excited delirium?

“According to some psychologists, a person with excited delirium acts agitated, violent, sweats profusely and is unusually strong and insensitive to pain. Then, the victim's heart races and eventually stops beating.”

These symptoms can be associated with other things, like a sudden release of adrenalin associated with fear, unusual activity, as well as various kinds of substance abuse.

Consider this example.

A person having done something socially unacceptable like robbing a bank could have a sudden release of adrenalin, while he or she is on some kind of a substance that alters behavior. Targeted and hit with the tazer as a weapon, he or she could die. Which would be the cause of death?   

Under normal circumstances, behavior control of any kind is not associated with a death or a death sentence, which could be the result of a severe, electric shock administered with a tazer. In this case, it is also associated with a sudden release of adrenalin and substance abuse.   

Electroshock therapy, with respect to the behavior modification of psychiatric patients, has been used for many years. Note that electroshock therapy could be fatal as well, depending upon the intensity of the electro-shock administered.

The same basic principle applies to tazers. Is it a relatively mild electro-shock administered by a tazer or an intense one?

Any weapon that could or does inflict death upon a person, should be subject to severe scrutiny. In terms of psychiatry, the practice has been carefully monitored, as well as documented in the form of medical records.

The use of tazers may endanger the life of the individuals and thus, tazering is not an appropriate form of behavior control. One must argue that less severe measures would appear to be more appropriate than the use of tazers.