Imbeciles

By Adam Cohen

Subjects: Law and legislation, LAW / Legal History, LAW / Civil Rights, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, Involuntary sterilization, Trials, litigation, Eugenics

Description: From the Introduction... Faced with this choice, the Supreme Court did not merely side with the strong: it enthusiastically urged them on by insisting it would be “better for all the world” if society's strongest members simply finished off people like Carrie once and for all. Even the ancient Babylonians understood that helping the strong to obliterate the weak is antithetical to the purpose of law--and no way to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land.