Mental Retardation and the Law: A Report on Status of Current Court Cases.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Development Services, President's Committee on Mental Retardation, Washington, DC 20201.

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81

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC.

Civil Rights; Court Litigation; Criminal Law; Deinstitutionalization (of Disabled); History; Institutionalized Persons; Legal Responsibility; Mental Retardation; Parents; Sexuality; Social Discrimination; Special Education

Brief reports on the status of approximately 75 ongoing or recently decided court cases in states of relevance to the mentally retarded are provided. Cases cover the following issues: commitment, community living and services, criminal law, discrimination, guardianship, institutions and deinstitutionalization, medical/legal issues, parental rights and sexuality, and special education. Provided for each case is the name of the state, name and number of case, names or positions of attorneys involved, references to previous reports about the case, a brief description of the issue, and a summary of the current status. Over half the document consists of a brief filed by Advocacy, Inc. concerning involuntary sterilization. The brief provides an historical background of sterilization, a legal analysis of sterilization, and suggests 14 standards to be applied in applications for involuntary sterilization of a disabled individual. (DB)

1981

ED201078