Stefanie Dziesinski

BLR 235
T/TH 9:30
Skinner v. Oklahoma
316 U.S. 535 (1942)
FACTS: This case touches a sensitive and important are of human rights. Oklahoma
deprives certain individuals of a right which is basic to the perpetuation of a race.
The right to have offspring, Oklahoma has an act which states that an habitual
criminal as a person who, having been convicted two or more times for crimes
amounting to felonies involving moral turpitude, either in Oklahoma court or in
any other state, is thereafter convicted of such a felony in Oklahoma and is
sentenced to a term of imprisonment in Oklahoma. Being that such person shall be
rendered sexually sterile. An opportunity to be heard and the right to a trial are
provided. It is then that the person has an operation to remove parts that would
help in the process. For men it is by the operation of vasectomy and salpingectomy
for women. A man was put to jail in 1935 and such an act was passed in 1936. The
judges then confirmed that he should have on operation due to his criminal
background by a five to four decision.
ISSUE: May the state sterilize an individual against his will for being convicted of
three felonies involving moral turpitude?
RULE OF LAW: The right to have offspring is a fundamental right, requiring a
compelling state interest to interfere with it.
Police power---The power of the government to exercise reasonable control over
persons and property within its jurisdiction in the interest of the general security,
health, safety, morals, and welfare except where legally prohibited.
The Act. Oklahomas Habitual Criminal Sterilization Act 1935. ---Fourteenth Amendment---- Equal protection clause, and Due process clause.
(Cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without appropriate legal procedures
and safeguards.)
Equal Protection Clause---- Provides that no state shall deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
APPLICATION OF RULES: Science has found and the law has recognized that there
are certain types of mental deficiency associated with delinquency which are
inheritable. But the state does not contend nor there any pretense that either
common knowledge or experience, or scientific investigation, has given assurance
that are the criminal tendencies of any class of habitual offenders universally or
even generally inheritable. Lacking in the first principles of due process. The state

is called on to sacrifice no permissible end when it is required to reach its objective

by a reasonable and just procedure adequate to safeguard rights of the individual
which concededly the Constitution protects.
CONCLUSION: Holds that sterilization in the present situation violates equal
protection principles.