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The Story of Disability Justice

Skinner v. Oklahoma makes the forced sterilization of incarcerated people illegal.

Date: 1942

The Story of Disability Justice
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In Skinner v. Oklahoma, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a 1935 law allowing for the forced sterilization, which was called the "punitive sterilization," of people who are incarcerated is unconstitutional.

However, forced sterilization will continue in private and state institutions, such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals, off the record.

Buck v. Bell (1927) will remain on the books, so the involuntary sterilization of people with disabilities will still be allowed under the Constitution. Over a third of all recorded forced sterilizations will take place after Skinner v. Oklahoma.