Skinner v. Oklahoma

Skinner v. Oklahoma
Argued May 6, 1942
Decided June 1, 1942
Full case nameSkinner v. Oklahoma ex. rel. Williamson, Attorney General
Citations316 U.S. 535 (more)
62 S.Ct. 1110,
86 L.Ed. 1655
Case history
PriorSkinner v. State, 139 Okla. 235 (Okla., 1941),
115 P.2d 123
SubsequentSkinner v. State, 195 Okla. 106 (Okla., 195),
155 P.2d 715
Holding
A statute of Oklahoma provides for the sterilization, by vasectomy or salpingectomy, of "habitual criminals" — an habitual criminal being defined therein as any person who, having been convicted two or more times, in Oklahoma or in any other State, of "felonies involving moral turpitude," is thereafter convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in Oklahoma for such a crime. Expressly excepted from the terms of the statute are certain offenses, including embezzlement. As applied to one who was convicted once of stealing chickens and twice of robbery, held that the statute violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Harlan F. Stone
Associate Justices
Owen Roberts · Hugo Black
Stanley F. Reed · Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas · Frank Murphy
James F. Byrnes · Robert H. Jackson
Case opinions
MajorityDouglas, joined by unanimous
ConcurrenceStone
ConcurrenceJackson
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Amendment XIV
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
Buck v. Bell (1927) (in part)

Skinner v. State of Oklahoma, ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535 (1942), is a unanimous United States Supreme Court ruling[1] that held that laws permitting the compulsory sterilization of criminals are unconstitutional as it violates a person's rights given under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, specifically the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause.[2][3][4] The relevant Oklahoma law applied to "habitual criminals" but excluded white-collar crimes from carrying sterilization penalties.

  1. ^ Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535 (1942).
  2. ^ Maggs, Gregory E. and Smith, Peter J. (2011) Constitutional Law. A Contemporary Approach. Thomson Reuters. p. 536. ISBN 978-0-314-27355-0
  3. ^ "The Supreme Court Invalidates Oklahoma's Sterilization Law. No. 782". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 33 (2): 163–165. 1942. JSTOR 1136423.
  4. ^ "Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia". embryo.asu.edu. Retrieved November 26, 2020.