Forced sterilizations bring to mind totalitarian societies and concentration camps. But in the early decades of the 20th century, 30 states — including New York, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Delaware — had compulsory sterilization laws for people deemed mentally unfit. It was part of the eugenics movement of the period, which believed that intelligence and overall mental fitness were largely hereditary.
Q&A: Exploring a N.J. psychologist’s role in the dark history of forced sterilization | NJ.com
August 13, 2011
