In a move that could have far-reaching implications for the treatment of juvenile offenders, three Broward judges signed orders Monday ending the chaining of young defendants in their courtrooms. The orders come two weeks after Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office filed a motion to unshackle youthful offenders. Miami-Date Public Defender Bennett Brummer said the practice violates juveniles' rights and interferes with attorney-client relations. So far, one judge there has ordered juveniles unchained.

Broward assistant public defenders Frank Delatorre and Diane Cuddihy filed their requests -- virtually identical to the motions filed in Miami -- before four judges last week. Three juvenile-court judges -- Michael Orlando, Larry Seidlin and Elijah Williams -- signed orders immediately. The fourth, Administrative Juvenile Judge Howard Zeidwig, said he wants to give the issue more consideration.

Zeidwig held a meeting on Friday to discuss the shackling practice with representatives from the Broward Sheriff's Office, the Department of Juvenile Justice and attorneys from the Office of the Public Defender and the State Attorney's Office. At the meeting, BSO and DJJ expressed concerns about safety in the courtroom, Zeidwig said.

DJJ still shackles juveniles, chaining their ankles and binding their cuffed wrists to chains around their waists, for transport between the Juvenile Intake Center and the Broward Courthouse.

As of Monday, deputies removed the waist and ankle chains, and juveniles in court were handcuffed to their chairs, just like adult defendants.

''It was a great thing to see,'' said Delatorre of the first hearings in Orlando's courtroom Monday afternoon.

PROSECUTOR IN FAVOR

Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider heads the juvenile unit of the Broward State Attorney's Office and said her office supported the motions.

Unchaining juveniles isn't right for every courthouse, but the mazelike layout of the Broward courthouse makes the risk of flight relatively small, she said. Juveniles appearing in the detention courtroom on the second floor will stay shackled in court because of the courtroom's proximity to the escalator and exit.

STATE TO COMPLY

DJJ spokeswoman Tara Collins said her agency's staff will comply with the court's directives.

''I find the procedure to be repugnant. It's a throwback to 18th-century Europe, putting children in shackles,'' said Seidlin, one of the judges who granted the motion Monday. He said that juveniles in his court will only be shackled in certain cases, such as when a child has committed a serious crime and poses a flight risk, or has shown he or she is dangerous to himself or others.

''It's an extremely fair ruling,'' said Delatorre. ``We've been treating the kids here harsher than we've been treating the adults. All we were trying to ask for is equaljustice.''

Shackling not only embarrasses adolescents and children, it makes them look like criminals, said Cuddihy.

''The child begins to perceive themselves as a danger, they perceive themselves as bad,'' she said. Those feelings of humiliation and guilt affect the attorney-client relationship and the presumption of innocence, she said.

Carlos Martinez, assistant public defender in Miami, praised the Broward judges for their ruling. ''What they're doing in Broward is the right standard,'' he said.

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