Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why the Child Endangerment Enhancement Is Not Appropriate
| dc.contributor.author | Carusello, M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2017-03-16T14:13:39Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2017-03-16T14:13:39Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Although the debate regarding drug-addicted criminals culminated in the 1980s and early 1990s with the “crack baby” hysteria, the debate is now rearing its ugly head again through sentencing decisions. “States have primarily used child abuse, neglect, endangerment, controlled substance, homicide, and manslaughter statutes to punish pregnant drug-addicted women for allegedly exposing their fetuses to potential harm.” But using these enhancements to punish pregnant drug-addicted women is simply bad policy. States argue that “these prosecutions are to protect the fetus from abuse and to deter women from using drugs during pregnancy”; however, instead of providing mothers with much-needed drug treatment, the prosecutorial strategy results in sending “a considerable number of women to prison.” This note explores how laws criminalizing pregnant women have developed and argues that recent sentencing decisions violate women’s rights and are dangerous to society. It presents non-judicial remedies, such as treatment and early-intervention, as solutions to handle the problem of pregnant drug-addicted women and drug-exposed newborns. (Author Introduction) | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Carusello, M. (2016). Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why the Child Endangerment Enhancement is Not Appropriate. Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice, 5(1), 69-92. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=rgsj | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11212/3266 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice | en_US |
| dc.subject | child abuse | en_US |
| dc.subject | law | en_US |
| dc.subject | drug-endangered children | en_US |
| dc.subject | commentary | en_US |
| dc.title | Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why the Child Endangerment Enhancement Is Not Appropriate | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |