Between a "Rock" and a Hard Place: Perinatal Drug Abuse

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In July 1989 in Sanford, Florida, in a trial at which one of us served as an expert witness for the defense, a woman was convicted of having administered cocaine to a minor—via the umbilical cord in the seconds between the infant's delivery and the clamping of the cord. Although she did not receive a jail sentence, the mother was sentenced to 15 years' probation, 200 hours of community service, mandatory drug treatment, and mandatory high school equivalency education. This prosecution is not an isolated example. The District Attorney of Butte County, California, announced his intention to prosecute all mothers of neonates with illegal drugs found in their urine; conviction would carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days in jail.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: