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主题:【原创】美国宪法读书笔记 -- 唵啊吽

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家园 偶然重读兄此文,挖到一点关于此案的其他内容

以下主要来自英语wikipedia的Buck_v._Bell页。

首先是1924年,弗吉尼亚州通过了为优生学考虑对弱智人施行强制绝育的法令。同年9月10日,弗州Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded(即是兄所述“癫痫和弱智病人村”)的管理员Albert Sidney Priddy提请对管下病人Carrie Buck进行绝育,这是案名中的原告Buck。在法律程序进行期间其人去世,由继任的James Hendren Bell博士代行,就是案名中的被告Bell。

据Priddy博士说,该动手术的这个Carrie Buck,心理年龄只有9岁,其人行为如此:

Buck's 52-year-old mother possessed a mental age of 8 and had a record of prostitution and immorality. She had three children without good knowledge of their parentage. Carrie, one of these children, had been adopted and attended school for five years, reaching the level of sixth grade. However, according to Priddy, she had eventually proved to be "incorrigible" and eventually gave birth to an illegitimate child. Her adopted family had committed her to the State Colony as "feeble-minded"

就是说既笨又行为不端,她母亲也这样,暗示这是遗传的。这个行为不检的智障少女不知跟什么男人搞到一起,生了个不名誉的小孩,想来也是跟老娘一样蠢,将来说不定还会跟什么男人搞到一起。证据确凿毫无疑问了吧?

但是实际情况呢?后来发现Carrie Buck怀孕是因为她的继母“出去看病”(引号原文如此),她继母的外甥乘机强奸了她。为了保护家族名誉,Carrie Buck才被送到智障和癫痫村。“行为不端”乃是无妄之灾。

她生的那个“不名誉的小孩”名叫Vivian,被曾经收养Carrie Buck的一家姓Dobbs的人家收养。她在学校的成绩,据美国科学史作家Stephen Jay Gould的描述,她在学校的成绩虽非超常,也堪中庸,有一次还曾经忝列学校的Honor Roll(大概类似我国的三好学生)。总之毫无迹象表明Vivian也是弱智人。不幸的是,她8岁的时候因肠炎去世。

高法对此案投票是八对一,Buck败诉。唯一持异议的Pierce Butler法官拒绝列出他的意见。主笔法官Holmes在司法评论中这么说(第二句前半段就是兄引用的“没有理由认为为什么已经成为社会负担的公民不能为公众福利作出绝育这一点点牺牲”):

We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.

他的结尾一句,被wikipedia称为“臭名昭著的一句”:

Three generations of imbeciles are enough.

事情到这里还没完。Carrie Buck手术后被放出癫痫弱智村,去给住在Bland, Virginia的一家做“domestic worker”。她一生勤于阅读,最终于1983年去世。她去世后两年,有个历史学家叫Paul A. Lombardo(此人有JD和Ph.D.两个学位,在弗吉尼亚大学和佐治亚州立大学做教授主讲生物方面的伦理和法律)在纽约大学法学学报上发了一篇文章,主张Carrie Buck根本不是弱智,整件事是为了掩盖外甥强奸案造出来的。他指出代表Carrie Buck的律师Irving Whitehead的辩护特别糟糕,未能传唤重要证人,而且被听众描述为“经常不知道自个儿是哪边的”。

以下猛料:

It is now thought that this was not because of incompetence, but deliberate. Whitehead had close connections both to the counsel for the institution, and Priddy himself. He was also a member of the governing board of the state institution in which Buck resided, and had personally authorized Priddy's sterilization requests and was a strong supporter of eugenic sterilization.

咳咳,那边那位同学,惊呼“美帝也会出这种事”也就罢了,请勿做更深一步联想

如兄所说,此案判决对美国各州此后的优生绝育立法产生了巨大的影响。直到1942年的Skinner v. Oklahoma案判决之后,这个趋势才被扭转过来。到1963年,各州绝育法几乎全部不再使用,但仍在法律系统中留了很多年。弗吉尼亚州的绝育法案于1974年废止。

从道理上说,我个人赞成兄所说的“危急时刻,个人有义务为集体利益作出牺牲”。但是从目前的证据来看,此案完全不是那么回事。大萧条从1929年10月24日“黑色星期四”股票崩盘之时才开始,1924-1927年正是所谓“柯立芝繁荣”、“Roaring Twenties”鼎盛的时候,繁荣的程度直到40年代美国参加二战之后才可比拟(见《光荣与梦想》),这个时候没有道理说养不起“社会的负担”。从另一个方面考虑,即便这次经济危机再闹到1929-1933年那种程度,Holmes法官的这种评论

if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility

恐怕不会有人敢再写出来。

社会毕竟在进步。

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