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Constitutional Law Keyed to Farber
Buck v. Bell
Citation:
274 U.S. 200, 47 S. Ct. 584, 71 L. Ed. 1000 (1927)Facts
Carrie Buck was a white woman committed to the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in Virginia. She was the daughter of a woman also institutionalized as “feeble minded” and the mother of an illegitimate child who was similarly characterized. At eighteen years old, she became the subject of sterilization proceedings under Virginia’s 1924 statute, which permitted sterilization of mental defectives for the welfare of society and the patient. The statute provided extensive procedural protections including notice to the patient and guardian, appointment of a guardian if necessary, a hearing before a special board, presentation of evidence, and multiple levels of appeal through the Circuit Court and Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. After following all procedural requirements over months of observation, the courts found that Buck was the probable parent of socially inadequate offspring and that her sterilization would promote her welfare and that of society without detriment to her health.
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