NCJ Number
137703
Journal
Harvard Law Review Volume: 105 Dated: (1992) Pages: 1359-1385
Date Published
1992
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This legal note argues that the 13th amendment, in abolishing slavery, creates dramatic remedial opportunities for abused children; the analysis is based on the case of Deshaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services.
Abstract
In Deshaney the U.S. Supreme Court held that the State of Wisconsin had no constitutional duty under the due process clause of the 14th amendment to protect a young child from his father's physical abuse. The child and his biological mother brought suit against the Department of Social Services for failing to remove the child from his father's custody in the face of repeated evidence of physical abuse. Ruling that the due process clause does not require a State to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors, the Supreme Court denied the child's constitutional claim. The child's attorneys did not assert a 13th amendment claim, even though the amendment's history makes it clear that slavery is intimately connected with issues of family servitude. Because minors often lack the ability to make fully informed and autonomous decisions on their own behalf, the courts should not simply look to their subjective will to determine whether servitude is involuntary and thus violative of the 13th amendment. Wisconsin's dereliction of its 13th amendment duty in the Deshaney case is clear. Despite its knowledge of the child's victimization, the State turned a blind eye to de facto slavery within its jurisdiction. 112 footnotes