sterlisation eugenics

• eugenics 


  based on the idea that sterilisation would prevent criminals from having children, therefore reducing levels of crime. in american, in 1927, it became legal to sterilise anyone who was deemed 'unfit' to reproduce and pass on their genetics. this included criminals, but also included anyone with learning difficulties. these policies also enforced abortions where people were deemed 'generate'.
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  they linked physical disabilities to a range of social problems including crime, vagrancy, alcoholism, prostitution and unemployment. they wanted the government to direct social policy towards 'improving the human race by discouraging production among those sections of society deemed to have undesirable genes.
• example of eugenic ideas


  in 1907, the eugenics education society was founded founded in britain to campaign for sterilisation and marriage restrictions for the weak to prevent the degeneration of britains population.
• eugenics today


  in 1985, a british mp was prepared to publicly voice the view that a disabled child was an unnecessary drain societys resources during an abortion debate in the house of commons, asserting that to abort a 'handicapped' foetus could save the country £1 million over the course of a lifetime.
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  osborn and west support this as they found that 40% of boys whose fathers had criminal convictions, had a criminal record themselves compared to 12% of criminals whose fathers did not have a criminal record.

  a mother of 6 children who had learning disabilities was ordered to be sterilised by a judge.