New Jersey passed a sexual sterilization law, only to have it be deemed unconstitutional in 1913. No eugenics legislation was carried through

April 21, 1911. The New Jersey Legislature passes "An act to authorize and provide for the sterilization of feebleminded (including idiots, imbeciles and morons), epileptics, rapists, certain criminals and other defectives. The legislation was introduced by Representative B. H. White. The aim of legislation was to allow for the legal sterilization of undesirable persons. It laid out who was responsible for deciding on when sterilization operations were necessary, on what conditions sterilization could be carried out, and the legal procedures for how sterilization should be managed.

A board of examiners was created in order to examine mentally and physically disabled patients, along with habitual criminals convicted of sexual assault, and decide whether sterilization operations should be approved. If the board approved a sterilization operation, then a proceeding was held where the candidate for sterilization would have a chance, with the assistance of a state appointed representative, to review and appeal the decision of the board. The legislation also made it so that the surgeons performing the operation could not be held criminally responsible (Kaelber, 2011).

Although one of the first pieces of sterilization legislation to be passed into law, this legislation did not result in any recorded sterilizations. This is because the legislation came under legal challenge soon after it was enacted. In the case of Smith v. Board of Examiners, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that this legislation violated the Fourteenth Amendment of equal protection under the law and so deemed it unconstitutional. The legislation was thus repealed in 1913 (Kaelber, 2011).

-Luke Kersten

New Jersey passed a sexual sterilization law, only to have it be deemed unconstitutional in 1913. No eugenics legislation was carried through

April 21, 1911. The New Jersey Legislature passes "An act to authorize and provide for the sterilization of feebleminded (including idiots, imbeciles and morons), epileptics, rapists, certain criminals and other defectives. The legislation was introduced by Representative B. H. White. The aim of legislation was to allow for the legal sterilization of undesirable persons. It laid out who was responsible for deciding on when sterilization operations were necessary, on what conditions sterilization could be carried out, and the legal procedures for how sterilization should be managed.

A board of examiners was created in order to examine mentally and physically disabled patients, along with habitual criminals convicted of sexual assault, and decide whether sterilization operations should be approved. If the board approved a sterilization operation, then a proceeding was held where the candidate for sterilization would have a chance, with the assistance of a state appointed representative, to review and appeal the decision of the board. The legislation also made it so that the surgeons performing the operation could not be held criminally responsible (Kaelber, 2011).

Although one of the first pieces of sterilization legislation to be passed into law, this legislation did not result in any recorded sterilizations. This is because the legislation came under legal challenge soon after it was enacted. In the case of Smith v. Board of Examiners, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that this legislation violated the Fourteenth Amendment of equal protection under the law and so deemed it unconstitutional. The legislation was thus repealed in 1913 (Kaelber, 2011).

-Luke Kersten