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A measure of justice for Regina McKnight

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Tue, Jul. 01, 2008 A measure of justice for Regina McKnight By BARRY LESTER and SUE VEER Guest Columnist, The State Newspaper In 1991, Regina McKnight turned to cocaine to numb the pain she felt as a result of her mother?s sudden death. She happened to be pregnant at the time. When she suffered a stillbirth, the state of South Carolina charged her with homicide by child abuse, claiming that her cocaine use caused the stillbirth despite the fact that scientific research does not link the two. Ms. McKnight was the first woman in S.C. history to be convicted of this crime for having suffered what both the prosecution and defense agreed was an unintentional stillbirth. As a result, she has spent nearly eight years in jail. Throughout this time, she has been deprived of her liberty, her rights and her connection with her children: All because of myth, not scientific fact...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).