Handcuffs
Encyclopedia
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
s close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge
Hinge
A hinge is a type of bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation. Hinges may be made of flexible material or of moving components...
, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet
Ratchet (device)
A ratchet is a device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. Because most socket wrenches today use ratcheting handles, the term "ratchet" alone is often used to refer to a ratcheting wrench, and the terms "ratchet"...
that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist. Without the key, the handcuffs cannot be removed and so the handcuffed person is unable to move his or her wrists more than a few centimetres/inches apart, making many tasks difficult or impossible. This is usually done to prevent suspected criminals
Suspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...
from escaping police custody
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
.
Styles
There are three main types of contemporary metal handcuffs: chain (cuffs are held together by a short chain), hinged (since hinged handcuffs permit less movement than a chain cuff, they are generally considered to be more secure), and rigid solid bar handcuffs. While bulkier to carry, rigid handcuffs permit several variations in cuffing. Hiatts SpeedcuffsHiatts Speedcuffs
Speedcuffs are a model of handcuff which were designed and produced by the now defunct UK based Hiatt & Company. They are now produced by Safariland. They are characterised by their rigid grip between the two ratchet cuffs, this replacing the older type which were linked by a chain...
are rigid handcuffs used by most police forces in the United Kingdom. Both rigid and hinged cuffs can be used one-handed to apply pain-compliance/control techniques that are not workable with the chain type of cuff. Various accessories are available to improve the security or increase the rigidity of handcuffs, including boxes that fit over the chain or hinge and can themselves be locked with a padlock
Padlock
Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorized use, and harm. They are designed to protect against some degree of forced and surreptitious entry.- History :...
.
In 1933 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used a type called "Mitten Handcuffs" to prevent criminals from being able to grab an object like the officer's gun. While used by some in law enforcement it was never popular.
Handcuffs may be manufactured from various metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s, including carbon steel, stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
and aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, or from synthetic polymer
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
s.
Sometimes two pairs of handcuffs are needed to restrain a person with an exceptionally large waistline because the hands cannot be brought close enough together; in this case, one cuff on one pair of handcuffs is handcuffed to one of the cuffs on the other pair, and then the remaining open handcuff on each pair is applied to the person's wrists. Oversized handcuffs are available from a number of manufacturers.
The National Museum of Australia has a number of handcuffs in its collection dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These include'T'-type 'Come Along', 'D'-type and 'Figure-8' handcuffs.
Double locks
Handcuffs with double locks have a lock-spring which when engaged stops the cuff from ratcheting tighter to prevent the wearer from tightening them. Tightening could be intentional or by struggling; if tightened, the handcuffs may cause nerve damage or loss of circulation. Also some wearers could tighten the cuffs to attempt an escape by having the officer loosen the cuffs and attempting to escape while the cuffs are loose. Double locks also make picking the locks more difficult.There exist three kinds of double locks as described in a Smith & Wesson brochure:
Lever lock
These are double-locked by fully lifting the lever with a fingertip and then allowing it to return. This causes the lock spring to move into a position that locks the bolt thus preventing the cuff from being further tightened. Thus no tool is required to double lock this type of cuff.Push pin lock
These are double-locked by fully depressing the push pin using the small peg on the top of the key. This causes the lock spring to move into a position that locks the bolt thus preventing the cuff from being further tightened.Slot lock
These are double-locked by inserting the small peg on the top of the key into the double lock slot. In this position, the small peg can contact the end of the lock spring. The key is then slid towards the key hole. This causes the lock spring to move into a position that locks the bolt, thus preventing the cuff from being further tightened.Plasticuffs
Plastic restraints, known as wrist ties, riot cuffs, plasticuffs, flexicuffs, flex-cuffs, tri-fold cuffs, zapstraps, zipcuffs, or zip-strips, are lightweight, disposable plastic strips resembling electrical cable ties. They can be carried in large quantities by soldierSoldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and are therefore well-suited for situations where many may be needed, such as during large-scale protests and riots. In recent years, airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
s have begun to carry plastic handcuffs as a way to restrain disruptive passengers. Disposable restraints could be considered to be cost-inefficient; they cannot be loosened, and must be cut off to permit a restrained subject to be fingerprinted, or to attend to bodily functions. It is not unheard of for a single subject to receive five or more sets of disposable restraints in his or her first few hours in custody.
However, aforementioned usage means that cheap handcuffs are available in situations where steel ones would normally lay unused for long times. Recent products have been introduced that serve to address this concern, including disposable plastic restraints that can be opened or loosened with a key; more expensive than conventional plastic restraints, they can only be used a very limited number of times, and are not as strong as conventional disposable restraints, let alone modern metal handcuffs. In addition, plastic restraints are believed by many to be more likely to inflict nerve or soft-tissue damage to the wearer than metal handcuffs.
Legcuffs
Fetters
Legcuffs, shackles, footcuffs, fetters or leg irons are a kind of physical restraint used on the feet or ankles to allow walking but prevent running and kicking. The term "fetter" shares a root with the word "foot"....
may be used as well; sometimes the chain connecting the leg irons to one another is looped around the chain of the handcuffs, and then the leg irons are applied, resulting in the person being "hog-tied
Hogtie
The hogtie is a method of tying the limbs together, rendering the subject immobile and helpless. Originally, it was applied to pigs and other young four-legged animals.- Details :...
". In a few rare cases, hog-tied persons lying on their stomachs have died from positional asphyxia
Positional asphyxia
Positional asphyxia, also known as postural asphyxia, is a form of asphyxia which occurs when someone's position prevents them from breathing adequately. A small but significant number of people die suddenly and without apparent reason during restraint by police, prison officers and health care...
, making the practice highly controversial, and leading to its being severely restricted, or even completely banned, in many localities.
Keys
Most modern handcuffs in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
can be opened with the same standard universal handcuff key. This allows for easier transport of prisoners and keeps one out of trouble if one loses one's keys. However, there are handcuff makers who use keys based on different standards. Maximum security handcuffs require special keys. Handcuff keys usually do not work with thumbcuffs
Thumbcuffs
Thumbcuffs are a metal restraining device that lock thumbs in proximity to each other.Rarely used due to an increased possibility of injury, most commonly by tight cuffs blocking blood circulation, handcuffs are used instead....
. The Cuff Lock handcuff key padlock
Padlock
Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorized use, and harm. They are designed to protect against some degree of forced and surreptitious entry.- History :...
uses this same standard key.
In addition to the Universal handcuff key, a few modified designs exist, including a key that has been molded to fit behind an officer's badge (colloquially known as "The New York Tuning Fork" (U.S Patent 607,305) It was invented by Michael Anthony Stahl, the very first and only such device ever to be designed for and licensed to a municipal police department, The New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
.
Hand positioning
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United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
today also teach their recruits to apply handcuffs so that the palms of the suspect's hands face outward after the handcuffs are applied. The Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
and others are notable exceptions, as they favor palms-together handcuffing. This helps prevent radial neuropathy or handcuff neuropathy during extended periods of restraint. Suspects are handcuffed with the keyholes facing up (away from the hands) to make it difficult to open them even with a key or improvised lock-pick.
As soon as restraints go on, the officer has full liability. The risk of the prisoner losing balance is higher if the hands are handcuffed behind the back than if they are handcuffed in front; however, the risk of using fisted hands together as a weapon increases with hands in front.
Some prisoners being transported from custody to outside locations, for appearances at court, to medical facilities, etc., will wear handcuffs augmented with a belly chain
Belly chain (restraint)
A belly chain is a physical restraint worn by prisoners, consisting of a chain around the waist, to which the prisoner's hands may be chained or cuffed...
. In this type of arrangement a metal, leather, or canvas belt is attached to the waist, sometimes with a locking mechanism. The handcuffs are secured to the belly chain and the prisoner's hands are kept at waist level. This allows a relative degree of comfort for the prisoner during prolonged internment in the securing device, while providing a greater degree of restriction to movement than simply placing the handcuffs on the wrists in the front.
Escaping
Since handcuffs are only intended as temporary restraints, they are not the most complicated of locks. This is why escaping from handcuffs is a common stunt performed by magiciansMagic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
or skilled criminals, perhaps most famously Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
.
There are several ways of escaping from handcuffs:
- slipping hands out when the hands are smaller than the wrist
- lock pickingLock pickingLock picking is the art of unlocking a lock by analyzing and manipulating the components of the lock device, without the original key. Although lock picking can be associated with criminal intent, it is an essential skill for a locksmith...
- releasing the pawlRatchet (device)A ratchet is a device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. Because most socket wrenches today use ratcheting handles, the term "ratchet" alone is often used to refer to a ratcheting wrench, and the terms "ratchet"...
with a shim - or simply opening the handcuffs with a duplicate key, often hidden on the body of the performer before the performance.
The above methods are often used in escapology
Escapology
For the Jessica Mauboy song, see Inescapable.Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks and other perils, often in combination.-History:The art...
. As most people's hands are larger than their wrists, the first method was much easier before the invention of modern ratchet cuffs, which can be adjusted to a variety of sizes. Modern handcuffs are generally ratcheted until they are too tight to be slipped off the hands. However, slipping out of ratchet cuffs is still possible. During his shows, Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
was frequently secured with multiple pairs of handcuffs. Any pair that was too difficult to be picked was placed on his upper arms. Being very muscular, his upper arms were far larger than his hands. Once he had picked the locks on the lower pairs of handcuffs, the upper pair could simply be slipped off.
It is also technically possible to break free from handcuffs by applying massive amounts of force from one's arms to cause the device to split open or loosen enough to squeeze one's hands through; however, this takes exceptional strength (especially with handcuffs made of steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
). This also puts an immense amount of pressure on the biceps
Biceps
Biceps may refer to:*Biceps brachii muscle, a muscle located on the inside of the upper arm*Biceps femoris muscle, one of the hamstring muscles of the back of each thigh*Biceps , a point in a metrical pattern...
and triceps muscles, and when tried by suspects (even unsuccessfully) can lead to injury, including bruising around the wrists, or tearing the muscles used (including pulling them off their attachments to the bones).
Another common method of escaping (or attempting to escape) from being handcuffed behind the back, is that one would, from a sitting or lying position, bring one's legs up as high upon one's torso
Torso
Trunk or torso is an anatomical term for the central part of the many animal bodies from which extend the neck and limbs. The trunk includes the thorax and abdomen.-Major organs:...
as possible, then push one's arms down to bring the handcuffs below one's feet, finally pulling the handcuffs up using one's arms to the front of one's body. This can lead to awkward or painful positions depending on how the handcuffs were applied, and typically requires a good amount of flexibility
Flexibility (anatomy)
Flexibility or limberness refers to the absolute range of movement in a joint or series of joints, and length in muscles that cross the joints. Flexibility is variable between individuals, particularly in terms of differences in muscle length of multi-joint muscles...
. It can also be done from a standing position, where, with some degree of effort, the handcuffed hands are slid around the hips and down the buttocks to the feet; then sliding each foot up and over the cuffs. These maneuvers, and the reverse (otherwise impossible) maneuver of bringing the handcuffed hands up behind the back and forwards over the head and then down in front, can be done fairly easily by some people who were born without collarbones because of the inherited deformity called cleidocranial dysostosis
Cleidocranial dysostosis
Cleidocranial dysostosis, also called Cleidocranial dysplasia, is a hereditary congenital disorder due to haploinsufficiency caused by mutations in the CBFA1 gene also called Runx2, located on the short arm of chromosome 6....
.
From this position, one has a better chance of attempting to use a tool (such as a shim or lockpick
Lock picking
Lock picking is the art of unlocking a lock by analyzing and manipulating the components of the lock device, without the original key. Although lock picking can be associated with criminal intent, it is an essential skill for a locksmith...
) to work one's way out of the handcuffs.
Miscellaneous
In JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, if someone is photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
ed or filmed while handcuffed, their hands have to be pixelated
Pixelization
Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique in which an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship...
if it is used on TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
or in the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s. This is because Kazuyoshi Miura
Kazuyoshi Miura (businessman)
was a Japanese businessman, who was accused of being involved in the killing of his wife, Kazumi Miura. The prolonged legal battle lasting decades ended when he presumably committed suicide in October 2008.- Early life :...
who had been arrested brought a successful case to court arguing that being pictured in handcuffs implied guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
, and had prejudiced the trial
Trial (law)
In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
. Similarly, in Hong Kong, people being arrested and led away in handcuffs are usually given the chance by the policemen to have their heads covered by a black cloth bag.
Police handcuffs are sometimes used in sexual bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
and BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
activities. This is potentially unsafe, because they were not designed for this purpose, and their use can result in nerve injury (Handcuff Neuropathy) or other tissue damage. Bondage cuffs
Bondage cuffs
Bondage cuffs are restraints designed for use in sexual bondage situations. Compared to conventional handcuffs, they are wide wrist and ankle restraints generally made of leather, often padded with soft leather or fake fur. Bondage cuffs may be fastened at the wrists and/or ankles by a locking...
were designed specifically for this application. They were designed using the same model of soft restraints used on psychiatric patients because they can be worn for long periods of time. Many such models can be fastened shut with padlocks.
Metaphorical uses
Handcuffs are familiar enough for the word to be used in metaphors, e.g.:- Golden handcuffsGolden handcuffsGolden handcuffs are a system of financial incentives designed to keep an employee from leaving the company. These can include employee stock options that will not vest for several years but are more often contractual obligations to give back lucrative bonuses or other compensation if the employee...
– an incentive given to an employee by a firm, most or all of which must be repaid to the company if the employee leaves the firm within a specified period of time. - As a verb, meaning to be kept from doing something by another's action or inaction – "He said that his computer work is handcuffed by his internet provider's refusal to accept .zip files."
- In fantasy footballFantasy football (American)Fantasy football is an interactive, virtual competition in which people manage professional football players versus one another and that allows people to act as general managers of a pseudo-football team. The players that an individual is able to manage are professional American Football players...
, one strategy is to have both a star player and his backup, or "handcuff", on a team's roster of players. If the star is injured, the handcuff will be his likely replacement.
Handcuffs gesture
In the 'handcuffs gesture' the arms are crossed at the wrists in front of the chest, to represent being handcuffed. Uses are:- By police, to mean "Allow yourself to be handcuffed."
- It has been known to be used to mean "We support our comrade who has been arrested."
- Once by Jose MourinhoJosé MourinhoJosé Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager and the current manager of Real Madrid. He is commonly known as "The Special One".Mourinho is regarded by some players, coaches and critics as the best ever coach in football....
at a football match at F.C. Internazionale MilanoF.C. Internazionale MilanoFootball Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...
, and it caused trouble.
External links
- The Lars Holst Restraint Collection
- Yossie's Handcuff Collection
- Atame's Collection of historical and modern Police restraints
- Cuffman's collection
- Handcuffs.org - A Collector's Guide to Vintage Handcuffs
- Collection of modern and historical restraints from the Czech Republic
- Specialised Hand Tools, including detailed descriptions
- US Handcuffs and Collectibles
- Russian site about handcuffs and bondage