8/3/2019 Leg Coun Paper - Conclusion

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/leg-coun-paper-conclusion 1/2

Conclusion

“They done me wrong. They done us all wrong.” These were the words Carrie Buck 

imparted to two visiting reporters several years before she passed away. Carrie Buck is a classic

example of a person being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was a child of a broken

home, poor, unlettered and mistreated by her relatives. She became an easy victim of those

willing to use her as a sacrificial lamb for the sake of science and to test the constitutionality of 

an unjust law. In the duration of her case, Carrie Buck was never fully made to understand her 

rights nor was she satisfactorily represented by Irving Whitehead.

Her life is a cautionary tale for those who seek relief in the hands of the laws and yet are

unable to receive such relief by the fact that they lacked a courtroom champion willing to operate

within the laws as well as the established mores of society. Carrie Buck was not the only victim

of the test case served to the courts, but also the thousands of Americans, Germans, and other 

nationals who were affected by the landmark decision.

“In January 2002, the Virginia General Assembly – the political body that in 1924 passed

the sterilization law in Virginia – passed a resolution expressing ‘its profound regret’ over its

involvement in the development of the legalization of eugenic sterilization laws” (Lief, 388). The

resolution aimed to apologize for the wrong done against Buck and the resulting repercussions

within Virginia, and more notably the inspiration Nazi Germany derived from this case.

However, the damage had been done and time cannot be turned back. The lessons learned therein

have been learned and imbibed in the most destructive way.

Furthermore, it is apparent that the deficiency in the amount of proper legal counselling

 participated in the broken logic of the sterilization laws. The story of Carrie Buck is intertwined

8/3/2019 Leg Coun Paper - Conclusion

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/leg-coun-paper-conclusion 2/2

with that of Irving Whitehead, the counsel who propelled her case all the way to the Supreme

Court but without the due diligence of a lawyer sworn into a profession with the words, “I will

do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in court”.

 Buck vs. Bell was a small pebble cast into the waters which cause ripples across the

nations and its effects can be felt in our own land. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes mentioned in

his penned decision that “it is better for the world… (that) society can prevent those who are

manifestly unfit from continuing their kind”. The question that remains is if such a solution

should be reached by the means similarly used by Buck’s case? The issue of sterilization is

controversial and open-ended, and may continue to be as such indefinitely. What remains as a

vital component to either side of the argument is whether or not the proper requisites of legal

counselling have been adhered to.

In the seventy years since the promulgation of judgment for  Buck vs. Bell , the glaring

reality remains that the said decision has never been overturned (Lief, 385). How should Carrie

Buck’s ordeal be remembered? Ultimately, it should be remembered not only for the defects it

contained but also for the lessons subsequently learned from such mistakes. As future lawyers,

we must take it upon ourselves to ensure that mistakes previously made must not be repeated lest

it cause another chain reaction of injustice and negligence. We must act in a manner that is

sufficient unto the law without compromising the needs of our clients.