New York as well as other states may be influenced by one Delaware lawmaker.
The AP reports that Rep. John Atkins, is trying to introduce several proposals that would increase the punishment that sex offenders might face from life sentences to special license plates.
Due to the severity of one of his penalties, the candidates must meet all of the following requirements: male, high-risk, repeat sex offender, over 21 years old, and the intended target was under 12 years old (AP).
If this proposal becomes the law, then anyone who matches that description might have to undergo chemical castration in his state.
In an article by the Washington Post titled, "Can Castration By a Solution for Sex Offenders?" chemical castration is described as when "drugs are injected to lower the testosterone level, which in tern reduces sex drive." This is different from a surgical castration because the testes are not removed.
The article goes on to quote Mario J.P. Dennis, a clinical director as saying, "Castration does not completely erase sexual arousal or function... It doesn't completely obliterate arousal, drive or the ability to commit a sex act."
On the other hand, a Danish study "suggested the rate of repeat offenses dropped from 80 percent to 2.3 percent after surgical castration" (Washington Post).
However, as discussed earlier, surgical and chemical castration is very different. DeWayne Wickham of USA Today agrees.
In his article titled, "Castration often fails to halt offenders" he discusses how chemical castration is not all that it is cracked up to be. Not only can criminals stop taking the treatment, but as Jerry Burford, a prosecutor, puts it "I get a lot of people who are impotent that still commit sexual battery. It's not their gonads that cause them to commit sexual battery. It's their heads."
Wickham believes that sexual assault is a psychological drive to be in control more so than a physical desire, so while the castration might help, it can't cure the entire problem with most offenders.
- Do you need a New York criminal defense attorney? (FindLaw)
- What other states already allow it? (ORL Research Report )
- The Drug and the Surgery (FindLaw)
- It is against the prisoners' rights? (ACLU)
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