Should Chemical Castration be performed on Sex Offenders?
Okay suppose your five-year-old daughter was brutally attacked and raped by a known sex offender, would you rather the offender to be sentenced to a few years in prison, only to get out and destroy another innocent victim’s life or have them chemically castrated? Chemical castration is the process of injecting male sex offenders’ female hormones to eliminate their sex drive. Honestly until someone is in the position; how can they say that it should or should not be performed on these offenders.
Growing up there was a family up the road that we all considered a little strange and even scared to go around. When we became adults the oldest son and his wife was arrested and charged with over ten counts of molestation of a juvenile and aggravated rape of a juvenile. The children next door to them and their own children were the victims. It is suspected that the father of this family and the other son was also involved but this was never proven. The couple only served a few years in prison the wife was released first and the husband a couple years later. Although, there has not been any other charges filed against the couple to knowledge there has been many times that their house has been passed and seen several children on their porch. It always sends chills down my spine; even though I do not know anything for sure, I suspect the abuse continues. My personal opinion is that castration is perfect for offenders of this nature.
According to www.csum.edu, sex offenders are among the highest reoccurring offenders in the United States. These types of criminals pose a threat to society and mostly to the people that live in the same neighborhood that they move into after being released from prison. When these offenders are given female hormones the rates of reoccurrence decreases to five percent. This is because of the reduction of testosterone levels, therefore decreases the sexual desires of these offenders. According to Andrew Humpherson, offenders who molest children are nearly impossible to rehabilitate. He also says that if these offenders where chemically castrated it would reduce the urge to molest children. The offenders who have been released on parole, as a discount on his maximum jail sentence, should be requir...
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...es, the offender has to pay for his own injections. I am sure that there are those that can argue all of my points and can even come up with different statistics to support their own points.
France has started testing a different type of chemical castration, in which, they refer as a chemical straight jacket. This is performed by administering injections of the prostate cancer drug leuproreline performs this process and the breast cancer tablet cyproterone dampens the sex drive and inhibits erections. According to Madelaine Perret, vice-president of the Paris section of the prisoner help organization, she has spoken with one prisoner and he told her “'Madame, you can't imagine the strength of the impulse that some of us men feel to get close to little boys and commit acts that are completely forbidden”. "He said he was glad to have been arrested and happy to be in prison. Because there were no young boys, there was no temptation and so it was in prison that he felt free.” It was also stated in this article that he was down for a long sentence but was afraid of being released and offending again, he also stated that he wanted treatment. (BBC News)
In the event that a prisoner (particularly a sex offender) does complete rehabilitation, he carries with him a stigma upon reentering society. People often fear living near a prior drug addict or convicted murderer and the sensational media hype surrounding released felons can ruin a newly released convict’s life before it beings. What with resident notifications, media scare tactics and general concern for safety, a sex offender’s ability to readapt into society is severely hindered (554). This warrants life-skills rehabilitation applied to him useless, as he will be unable to even attempt to make the right decision regarding further crime opportunities.
Yates, P. M. (2005). Pathways to treatment of sexual offenders: Rethinking intervention. Forum on Corrections Research, 17, 1-9.
The United States of America has always supported freedom and privacy for its citizens. More importantly, the United States values the safety of its citizens at a much higher level. Every year more laws are implemented in an attempt to deter general or specific criminal behaviors or prevent recidivism among those who have already committed crimes. One of the most heinous crimes that still occurs very often in the United States is sex offenses against children. Currently, there are over 700,000 registered sex offenders and 265,000 sex offenders who are under correctional supervision. It is estimated that approximately 3% of the offenders who are currently incarcerated will likely commit another sex-related crime upon release (Park & Lee, 2013, p. 26). There are several laws that have been in place regarding sex offenses for decades, including Megan’s Law which was enacted in 1996.
It is typically thought that sex offenders are the type of individual that needs to be tried in our courts and then sentenced because there is really no hope for an individual that harms the most innocent of our society. But there just may be an exception to this way of thinking. Juveniles who at one point themselves may have been victims, and as they have grown into adolescence not knowing why they are thinking the way they are, turn around and abuse others. Then what happens is that these adolescents once found out, are then tried in our courts as adults because in the mind of the court they are committing an adult crime. But there are alternatives for these juveniles that are being placed in our court system. Because at this stage in their development they are more receptive to treatment options and there are treatments available with valid research to substantiate them. Our judicial system just needs to recognize these options in order to try to lessen the amount of trauma inflicted on these already potentially traumatized individuals.
Expert Opinion Revisiting the “Irreconcilable conflict between Therapeutic and Forensic Roles Implications for sex offender specialists” Christmas Covell, Ph.D & Jennifer Wheeler, Ph.D;
The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011) reveals an estimated 747,408 sex offenders were registered in the United States as of 2010. This number shows an increase of over seven thousand from the previous year. According to Vivian-Bryne (2004), therapeutic treatment for sex offenders is one approach to address the issue of sexual offense and reduce numbers. Although the idea of therapeutic treatment for sex offenders can raise skepticism, a myriad of therapeutic treatment models are available (Polizzi, MacKenzie & Hickman, 1999). This paper will establish the important complexities surrounding therapeutic treatment of sex offenders, including treatment effectiveness, challenges of treatment schemas, and recidivism. Peer reviewed articles regarding therapeutic treatment for sex offenders will be reviewed and the validity of these sources will be discussed.
Sex offender legislation has been encouraged and written to protect the community and the people at large against recidivism and or to help with the reintegration of those released from prison. Nevertheless, a big question has occurred as to if the tough laws created help the community especially to prevent recidivism or make the situation even worse than it already is. Sex offenders are categorized into three levels for example in the case of the state of Massachusetts; in level one the person is not considered dangerous, and chances of him repeating a sexual offense are low thus his details are not made available to the public (Robbers, 2009). In level two chances of reoccurrence are average thus public have access to this level offenders through local police departments in level three risk of reoffense is high, and a substantial public safety interest is served to protect the public from such individuals.
In the United States as a condition of parole sex offenders are typically required to register with law enforcement officials when released from prison. These officials notify the public of the offender’s release back into society and provide them with information such as the offenders address, and other personal information. Research indicates the notification system can have an adverse effect on the offender’s life, casting doubt on what the laws intended purpose to protect the public. This paper will explore the background of sex offender registries, the relationship between the sex offender notifications and registration laws and higher rates of recidivisms in the United States.
In order to state why castrations should be allowed on sex offenders, Wright provides key information and examples as to why it should be allowed. He first talks a little bit about the sex offenders they currently have in jail in Texas. He explains that only a small amount are actually receiving therapy and how more than half will be arrested for a sex crime a few years later after getting released from jail. The next thing Wright talks abou...
Many offenders are locked away with the hopes of eventually returning to society by completing certain rehabilitation programs within jail. While this may be difficult, there are some that are able to complete some form of rehabilitation or their sentencing in order to leave the facility and return to society. Treatments can include targeting such behaviors in order to get to the root problem of the issues i.e deviant sexual behavior or lack of empathy (Schaffer et al., 2010). Deviant sexual offenders have also been found to be at a more advanced threat for reoffending as they are more set in their ways with rehabilitation offering little to
In today’s society, juveniles that commit a sexual assault have become the subject of society. It’s become a problem in the United States due to the rise of sexual offenses committed by juveniles. The general public attitude towards sex offenders appears to be highly negative (Valliant, Furac, & Antonowicz, 1994). The public reactions in the past years have shaped policy on legal approaches to managing sexual offenses. The policies have included severe sentencing laws, sex offender registry, and civil commitment as a sexually violent predator (Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004). This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juvenile offenders commit repeat sexual assaults after a response to their sexual offending (Righthand &Welch, 2004).
The acceptance that the court system often treats female offenders differently than male offenders is an accurate statement; however, it comes with many caveats. Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors such as emotional or psychological problems. Due to these mitigating factors, it appears treatment of female sex offenders is more lenient than male if their crimes are similar in nature. Research by Miccio-Fenseca (2012) indicates that in comparison to their male counterparts, “female sex offenders rarely use force or violence far less than often…rarely use threats of violence to silence victims…rarely use threats o...
Many resources go into the prevention and management of sex offenders. However, very few effective programs exist that decrease the likelihood of reoffending. Through the use of meta-analyses, Seto and Lalumiere (2010) evaluated multiple studies that examined sex offenders. Emphasis was put on etiological explanations in the hopes of identifying factors associated with sex offending. Seto and Lalumiere’s (2010) findings help in creating effective programs to decrease recidivism rates.
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). In light of this realization, steps beyond treatment have been taken to reduce the recidivism rate of sex offenders. Notification laws, special supervising techniques by parole officers, and both surgical and chemical castration are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, notification laws and both forms of castrations
Second time offenders of sex crimes such as rape should be castrated and emasculated slowly with a dull, rusty knife. The criminal should be revived every time he passes out from pain. This heinous crime deserves this much at the very least. After all, this person has violated another person and taken something away, a trust that can never be fully restored. The victims of these crimes never fully trust again.