The Severity of Castration as a Form of Punishment for Rapists

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The topic of our debate is the castration of rapists. The topic has sparked the interest of many people due to its severity. Castration is a very harsh punishment and can affect a person for the rest of their lives. The question then rise, does a human really deserve a severe punishment such a castration? Humans are prone to making many mistakes throughout life and these mistakes are what mold them to becoming better people at the end. This drives me to believe that castration of rapists is a bad idea and should not be used as a source of punishment.
My judgment on this issue can be backed up by viewing the recidivism rates of prisoners released from jail. According to a study done by the Bureau of Statistics in year of 2007, it showed the recidivism rates of rapists are the second lowest among all of the crimes that are committed by prisoners. The statistics show that robbers have a 70.2% recidivism rate, burglars have 74.0%, larcenists have 74.6%, motor vehicle thieves have 78.8%, and inmates that possessed or sold stolen property have 77.4%. The recidivism rate for rapist comes in at 2.5 percent. This low rate suggests that the jail time is proving to be enough punishment for most convicts that are guilty of rape. Another factor that plays into the jail time serving as a good punishment is the treatment of rapists in prison. Rapists are frowned upon in society and even more frowned upon in prison. The inmates show tremendous hatred and disrespect for the convicts that commit this horrific crime. These inmates are usually isolated in individual cells to prevent them from having to encounter any danger from the rest of the inmate population.
False accusations are another vital reason why rapist should not be castrated for punishment. There are numerous cases across the world where a person is falsely accused of rape due to personal issues that they may have with that particular person. Rape differs from most other crimes because of its relevance to sexual intercourse. Sex can either be consensual or forced. The only person that has any say in this situation is the victim but how does one know that this information is truthful? A case that serves a prime example of issue is the case of Elizabeth Paige Coast in Virginia. In this case, she accused Jonathon Montgomery of raping her in the year of 2000.

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