Thailand proposes chemical castration for rapists. Shutterstock photo
Sex offenders will be offered chemical castration in Thailand in an effort to reduce recidivism, after lawmakers approve the controversial procedure.
Offenders who are deemed likely to commit multiple sexual assaults after their release may opt for the injection, which lowers his testosterone levels, in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.
The procedure will require approval from two doctors and abusers will continue to be monitored for 10 years and will be forced to wear electronic bracelets. The bill, approved by the House in March, was approved late Monday by 145 senators, with two abstentions. He still needs another vote in the house, and then royal approval.
Offenders who are deemed likely to commit multiple sexual assaults after their release may opt for the injection,
Of the 16,413 sex offenders sentenced to be released from Thai prisons between 2013 and 2020, 4,848 were reiterated. according to data from the prison ward. If approved, Thailand would join a small group of countries that use chemical castration, including Poland, South Korea, Russia, and Estonia, as well as some US states.
“I want this law to be passed quickly,” Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said Tuesday. “I don’t want to see any more news about bad things happening to women”She said.
Thailand legislates to castrate abusers.
Jaded Chouwilai, director of the Progressive Movement of Women and Men Foundation, a non-governmental organization that deals with, among other things, sexual violence, claimed that the use of chemical castration would not address sexual offenses.
“Convicts need to be rehabilitated by changing their mentality while they are in prison,” he said. “The use of punishments such as execution or injected castration reinforces the idea that the offender can no longer be rehabilitated.”
Castration will be optional in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Last year, Pakistan announced that repeated convicted rapists would face castration.
What is chemical castration
Chemical castration consists in the administration of antiandrogenic drugs that cancel the functions of male hormones and, therefore, also the sexual behavior of men. It is not a form of sterilization, since the effects are reversible and there are no physical alterations as in surgical castration, which consists in the removal of the testicles or ovaries.
The latter procedure was used extensively in Europe in the mid-20th century in sexually assaulted prisoners, but it was found not to be an effective treatment, because many criminals persisted in their sexual assaults.
The treatment manages to reduce testosterone levels so, in theory, it also causes a decrease in libido and in the convulsive sexual fantasies that this type of criminal has. Other countries like Russia and Poland also force sex offenders who have abused minors to undergo chemical castration.
Source: Clarin
