Events Calendar

In 2021, the California State Legislature approved a reparations scheme for victims of forced sterilization carried out from 1909-1979. As the window for victims of state-sanctioned forced sterilization to apply for reparations comes to a close in December 2023, an evaluation of the efficacy of the initiative can now be undertaken. One way of evaluating the reparations scheme’s efficacy is through the lens of transitional justice – a theory in international law describing the process and mechanisms through which a state seeks to reform and repair relations with its citizens following a mass human rights abuse, conflict, or political regime change. The California State Legislature is therefore engaging, to a certain extent, in transitional justice by creating the reparations scheme and attempting to address the historical injustice caused to its citizens. In her talk, Helen Jennings will evaluate the extent to which this engagement has been successful, and will suggest lessons from transitional justice that can be applied to California’s reckoning with the legacy of eugenics.