Touria PRAYAG
23 April 2008
Port Louis — "Je n'ai pas peur des mots!' These were French President Nicholas Sarkozy's comments on his proposal to treat repeat sex offenders in a country where they form almost a quarter of male detainees. And indeed, France has already followed the lead of Sweden, Germany and some states in the US and started offering chemical treatment to repeat rapists and child molesters with the hope that it will stop them from attacking again.
If it works, French Justice Minister said, 'it could, like psychological treatment, be something sex offenders are forced to undergo in the future." The word Mr. Sarkozy is not afraid of using is castration. And as it happens, neither am I. While sex assault is one of the most heinous crimes for which criminals have to pay, one has to concede that it is also a medical condition, which the preposterously lenient sentences and the luxury of three meals a day have until now done little to attenuate: as soon as these predators are released into the community, 75 to 80% of them find their way back to jail for the same offences.
On our beautiful island, where rapists who confess to the crime are, more often than not, released on bail, they sometimes take the opportunity to re-offend while on bail! So, considering the damage these monsters inflict on their victims, what is more harmless than castration? If they cannot control their urges, why not have a doctor do it for them?
Before someone screams that this is a barbaric treatment and that my proposal is akin to that of capital punishment, please allow me to explain that this procedure is no longer the brutal act of physical mutilation it used to be. It can now be done with a series of injections or by simply removing the testicles and leaving the rest of the male plumbing intact.
According to a large 1963 study involving a total of 1036 sex offenders by the German researcher A. Langeleddeke, physical castration appears to be highly effective as, historically, it results in a 20-year re-offense rate of less than 2.3% vs. 80% in the untreated control group.
"Voluntary" surgical castration has been in practice in many countries, namely American, Scandinavian, and European countries for over eighty years and chemical castration for the last thirty years as an option for treatment for people who have broken laws of a sexual nature, allowing them to return to the community and lead normal lives. Many countries now have compulsory treatment for re-offenders.
While lawmakers should work towards enacting legislation to mandate castration for repeat sex offenders, we should not lose sight of the fact that this is only part of the solution.
Though research has proven that it does inhibit child molestation and decrease further sexual deviance by removing the biological and chemical tendencies intrinsically linked to the desire to rape in males, what causes sexual battery in criminals is not only their gonads but also their heads. So, castration, coupled with psychiatric therapy and monitoring, is a very viable solution to the dilemma we are facing of how to deal with these crimes in a fashion beneficial to both society and the offenders.
Those of you who have noticed how terribly worried I am that these sex offenders, outside their vile activity, may not enjoy the normal sex life they have forever denied their victims will be pleased to know that chemical castration does not end sex life. Males can still have sexual intercourse, though they may not want to (Have you noticed how devastated I am!). However, their aggressive tendencies decrease due to a reduction in testosterone. This also means that they become more docile and have a better opportunity to be rehabilitated and educated to become worthwhile citizens.
If you have ethical or humane concerns about castration, please consider this: What is more humane than helping sex offenders control their sexual urges? What is more ethical than allowing a decent law-abiding young man to take his girlfriend for a night out without having to go through the agony of helplessly watching her being sexually assaulted by some sick monsters? What is more humane than allowing a girl in the prime of her youth to walk in the street without going through the irreversible trauma of being savagely attacked in her innermost intimacy? What is more ethical than preventing an unscrupulous father or sick uncle from repeatedly raping his own flesh and blood?
Let's not lose sight, in this debate, of who the real victims are!
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