An end to shackling prisoners in federal court

It's obvious that placing a criminal defendant in handcuffs and leg shackles runs the risk of prejudicing a jury. But even when only a judge is present, a policy of shackling a defendant violates his dignity, mocks the presumption of innocence and offends what the Supreme Court has called the "dignity and decorum of judicial proceedings that the judge is seeking to uphold." That's why the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was right this week to order an end to routine shackling of...