Chemical Castration
Chemical Castration
LaDarius D. Abraham
Southern University A&M College
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes (Oakes 99). This presents a problem for the public, as potential victims, and the legal system which is entrusted by the public for protection. It would be irresponsible for the legal system to ignore the criminal class of sex offenders, for they are subject to a recurring physiological urge that requires the use of effective restraints that would curb the habitual repetition of episodes producing the harmful consequences to the public (Schopf 95). Both surgical and chemical castrations are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, both forms of castrations have not come about without criticism on constitutional grounds. Any criticism should take into account the extraordinary recidivism rates found only in the criminal class of the sex offender. A more recent study, published in the same journal, by Looman et al in 2000 suggests the opposite. Of the released sex offenders they studied they found a 23.6 percent recidivism rate for those treated while a 51.7 percent rate for the untreated group. They also conducted an analysis separately on the outcome for men who had previous sexual convictions. Those with no previous sexual offense convictions had a 20.9 percent recidivism rate of the treated men compared to 42.9 percent of the untreated men. Of the men with previous sexual offenses, 26.1 percent of the treated group sexually reoffended compared to 73.1 percent of the untreated men. According to this study, treatment is invaluable in minimizing the recidivism of sex offenders with previous
LaDarius D. Abraham
Southern University A&M College
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes (Oakes 99). This presents a problem for the public, as potential victims, and the legal system which is entrusted by the public for protection. It would be irresponsible for the legal system to ignore the criminal class of sex offenders, for they are subject to a recurring physiological urge that requires the use of effective restraints that would curb the habitual repetition of episodes producing the harmful consequences to the public (Schopf 95). Both surgical and chemical castrations are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, both forms of castrations have not come about without criticism on constitutional grounds. Any criticism should take into account the extraordinary recidivism rates found only in the criminal class of the sex offender. A more recent study, published in the same journal, by Looman et al in 2000 suggests the opposite. Of the released sex offenders they studied they found a 23.6 percent recidivism rate for those treated while a 51.7 percent rate for the untreated group. They also conducted an analysis separately on the outcome for men who had previous sexual convictions. Those with no previous sexual offense convictions had a 20.9 percent recidivism rate of the treated men compared to 42.9 percent of the untreated men. Of the men with previous sexual offenses, 26.1 percent of the treated group sexually reoffended compared to 73.1 percent of the untreated men. According to this study, treatment is invaluable in minimizing the recidivism of sex offenders with previous
References: Keene, B. (1997). Chemical Castration: An Analysis of Florida’s New “Cutting Edge” Policy Towards Sex Criminals Looman, J., Abracen, J.& Nicholaichuk, T. (2000). Recidivism Among Treated Sexual Offenders and Matched Controls: Data from the Regional Treatment Center (Ontario) Oakes, S. (1999). Megan’s Law: Analysis on Whether it is Constitutional to Notify the Public of Sex Offenders Via the Internet B. 1970 C D. 2000 In 1892, what country was the first to castrate a sex offender?