Other Law Commons^™

Children Have Rights, Too: How The Thirteenth Amendment Can Protect America's Abused Youth, Francesca Lauta

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Three million children are abused every year in the United States. Although there are some safeguards, such as foster care and state child abuse laws, the number of abused children has not dwindled. How should the federal government respond? This article argues that the Thirteenth Amendment can be interpreted to protect abused children. It is widely accepted that the Thirteenth Amendment’s sole purpose is to abolish Black slavery, therefore rendering it useless in the modern legal climate. Nothing in the wording or context of the Amendment, however, suggests that it is limited to Black slavery. Interpreting the Amendment to encompass …