Yes, patently unnecessary - in the sense of "preventing escape or violent attack on arrestors". But this *crime* was as serious as a physical attack on that person, and it employed innate 'feminine dominance' - a technique also useable by males (but I digress).

IME - by age 12, most possess all the sinister capabilities of the hardened conman, though usually intermixed the vaguely-hateful insouciance of the gelatinous Neoconman. So how Does one bring-Really-Home.. the magnitude of what these perpetrated, in a '04 cynical, desensitized, bizness-scurrilous society ???

These kids have seen their weekly heaped dead burned body movies (from which they doubtless had subliminal tips on honing their small charade). And by 12, had they developed a fledgling conscience at all -- would know quite well, the magnitude of what they were contemplating. Not at 10 (though some would know by then). But by 12. We accelerate natural processes.. menstruation age keeps dropping.

So ... not sure on this call; it's a close one. It would depend on some personal eval of the perp. Cops used to do that. Today? WTF Knows.