U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Prosecution of the Pregnant Addict: Does the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause Apply?

NCJ Number
129125
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: (March-April 1991) Pages: 99-113
Author(s)
R Batey; S A Garcia
Date Published
1991
Length
15 pages
Annotation
While prosecutors have begun an increasing pattern of prosecuting pregnant drug addicts on charges relating to fetal or child neglect or abuse, the eighth amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause should prevent punishment for conduct that is an inevitable result of drug addiction.
Abstract
The two Supreme Court cases considered in this argument are Robinson v. California and Powell v. Texas which found that States cannot criminalize an offender's status, i.e., drug addiction, and that punishment of involuntary behavior is unconstitutional, respectively. The authors maintain that, despite misreadings of these cases by lower courts, the constitutional decisions forbid criminal penalties against pregnant addicts. However, they note that the cruel and unusual punishment clause would not limit noncriminal means of dealing with the problem of pregnant addicts. 80 notes (Author abstract modified)

Downloads

No download available