BCJ 2000 Unit 3 Research Paper

Unit 3 Research Paper

Columbia Southern University

Eugenics is described as the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. It was developed largely by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, and it fell into disfavor only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis. It tried to eliminate undesired characteristic in people so that people that were thought to be “defective” or “inferior” were not able to reproduce. Eugenics relates to the theory of criminal families. It focused on families or groups that showed criminal tendencies over many generations and was built on creating ideas of heredity and genetics. This also proposes that families and individuals are affect by cultural pressures to commit crimes.

After the ruling was said that the state could sterilize certain mental defectives without their consent, and thousands of people were sterilized without knowing it. State laws allowed the sterilization of people that were said to be unfit to reproduce, such as individuals who had epilepsy (Doerr, 2009). More than 65,000 individuals were sterilized under this law, and the law existed in over 30 states. The creation of Human Genome Project now scientists understand how mental illnesses are genetically transmitted on a deeper level that at the time of Buck vs. Bell Doerr, 2009). The law that was passed in Virginia in the case of Buck vs. Bell was upheld until 1979 when it was repealed.

Issues of reproductive justice are still relevant today, because there are still state laws that continue to restrict access to abortion and birth control. Forced sterilization does not technically exist in the United States in today’s society. Even though the case of Buck vs. Bell was not ever overturned there have been ways to protect women’s rights against it. There have been multiple instances where they have sterilized people that are in jail without their consent, and mandated by the prison.

Genetics is the study of how heritable traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. According to Charles Darwin there are more offspring being produced than what is needed. He also believed that if every individual was born to reproduce offspring then the population would collapse, and that would lead to more competition for resources (Bagley, M. & Live Science Contributor, 2013). Darwin also believed that natural selection explained how natural variations could lead to new traits in a population, or new species (Bagley, M. & Live Science Contributor, 2013). He saw that the variations existed but was unable to explain how they happened.

I do not think that genetics should be used as the basis for any type of legal decision. I do not think that someone’s genetics can tell anyone why something happened or why they did something or if they get a job. Genetic information includes information about an individual’s genetic tests, the test of family members, and information about what diseases or disorders an individual’s family members have. Whether or not someone in an individual’s family has something does not mean that they suffer from the same thing. It is illegal for anyone to deny someone employment or harass someone because of genetic information. Autonomy serves as the basis for numerous decisions protecting a person’s bodily integrity. Confidentiality of health care information is protected because disclosure of a persons’ medical condition can cause harm to him or her.

References

Doerr, A. (20009, June 25). Three generations of Imbeciles Are Enough. Retrieved from https://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2009/06/25/three-generations-of-imbeciles-are-enough/

Johnson, C.G. (2013, July 7). Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval. Retrieved from http://cironline.org/reports/female-inmates-sterilized-california-prisons-without-approval-4917

Eugenics, sterilization, and historical memory in the United States. (2016, August). Retrieved from www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0104-59702016000900195&script=sci_arttext

Bagley, M. & Live Science Contributor (2013, February 21). Genetics: The Study of Heredity. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/27332-genetics.html

Schmalleger, F. (2016) Criminology 3rd Edition. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson