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Pregnancy, Drugs, and the Perils of Prosecution (From Criminal Courts for the 21st Century, P 77-91, 1999, Lisa Stolzenberg and Stewart J. D'Alessio, eds. -- See NCJ-186588)

NCJ Number
186590
Author(s)
Wendy K. Mariner; Leonard H. Glantz; George J. Annas
Date Published
1999
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article examines the assumptions that underlie prosecutions of pregnant women who use drugs.
Abstract
Criminal prosecutions of women's conduct during pregnancy assume that women have a special duty to the fetus, specifically a legal duty not to harm the fetus. The article argues that the professed goals of such prosecutions cannot be achieved through the criminal law. The offense that pregnant women are thought to commit cannot be defined in terms of any intelligible duty enforceable by the criminal law. Further, prosecuting pregnant women for drug use is unlikely to alter the spread of drugs or the health prospects of children. Instead, it is likely to threaten the rights of women as autonomous individuals and, ultimately, the future of their children. Singling out pregnant women highlights the fact that they are being punished not for any act harming the fetus but because they are pregnant and use drugs. Any rationale that justifies prosecuting pregnant women for risking harm to a fetus may be used to justify controlling all behavior of pregnant women. The article concludes that criminalizing certain conduct by pregnant women is likely to be counterproductive, deterring women from prenatal care and other services that have a realistic probability of improving their children's health. Drug use during pregnancy is a real problem, a public health problem that can only be compounded by treating it as a crime. Notes

Sale Source
Prentice Hall (Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc)
Address

240 Rrisch Court, Paramus, NJ 07652-5240, United States

Publication Format
Book (Softbound)
Publication Type
Issue Overview
Language
English
Country
United States of America
Note
Reprinted by permission of the Institiute for Criminal Justice Ethics, and the authors from Criminal Justice Ethics, from vol. 9, (1990), pp. 30-41.