Monday, October 19, 2015

More info on New Jersey Eugenics-Era Law


Journalist Daniel Engber sent me the following information regarding the eugenics-era language of the NJ law.

 Start quote:

 "The legislature voted to update the language of the statute, effective March 2012, to strike the phrase “mentally defective.” But they went on to amend the statute so that it covers victims who “had a mental disease or defect” at the time of the sexual encounter.

It’s also the case that the New Jersey Law Revision Commission is (or was) working on an overhaul of the laws on sexual offenses, which would include greater protections for the sexual rights of people with disabilities.  Here’s a passage from a 2013 report:

With regard to the section relating to sexual offenses against individuals who have temporary or permanent intellectual or development disabilities, the Report attempts to integrate the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Olivio, 123 N.J. 550 (1991)interpreting the existing statute to ensure that such individuals’ rights to pursue a normal consensual sex life were protected along with their rights not to be the victims of sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact. The proposed language contained in this version of the Report is intended to incorporate the concerns addressed by the Court in Olivio as well as concerns raised by the commenters to earlier drafts.
 A 2012 report from the same commission proposed making the crime that Anna was convicted of no longer “aggravated,” which would have had major implications for her coming sentence. 

Here’s another passage from the Commission:

At the March 2012 meeting, the Commission questioned whether New Jersey’s current statute allows people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to engage in sexual relations.  In response, Staff researched the statute and current case law.  Effective March 17, 2012, the Legislature deleted section h. of N.J.S. 2C:14-1 (definitions), which defined “mentally defective” as a “condition in which a person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders that person temporarily or permanently incapable of understanding the nature of his conduct, including, but not limited to, being incapable of providing consent,” and deleted “mentally defective” from N.J.S. 2C:14-2a(7) as a circumstance where an actor may be guilty of aggravated sexual assault. 2011 N.J. Laws 232.  However, the Legislature also added language to section 2a(7) making sexual penetration with another person aggravated sexual assault if “the actor knew or should have known [the victim] had a mental disease or defect which rendered the victim temporarily or permanently incapable of understanding the nature of his conduct, including, but not limited to, being incapable of providing consent. 
End quote.
 Thank you Daniel for sharing this important supplemental information.

2 Comments:

At October 19, 2015 at 7:35 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you, Dr. Block. This is very interesting! Quite sobering, too, as I have just finished NeuroTribes, which goes into the dark topic of eugenics and disability in the national context.

 
At October 23, 2015 at 10:20 PM , Blogger SmackCrackNPop said...

If people can't leave each other alone, then they should just fight to the absolute death and settle it for good!

 

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