http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20090208/news/902070238&tc=yahoo

 Bill calls for castrating sex offenders

 New law would apply to child molesters

 Published: Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.

 A bill introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives this week would require convicted sex offenders who targeted young children to be surgically castrated before leaving prison.

 A representative from Alabama wants to allow castration for male sex offenders over 21 years of age who were convicted of a sex crime against a victim under 12.

I would somewhat agree with this idea. What we have learned over many years is that male pedophilia is incurable. We have tax payer money being wasted on sex offender “rehab” that has proven to be a failure. Keeping pedophiles 1,000 feet away from schools, or playgrounds is not helping the sick minds of these sick people either. Is what we are doing really enough?

There are several states that allow chemical castration, this would involve an offender being injected with a drug that would reduce the amount of testosterone in his body and lower his sex drive and many of the states allow voluntary surgical castration. The problem with the drug method is that the offender can easily purchase hormones to counteract the testosterone reducing drug.

Here’s a story I read from a few years back.

 Sunday, July 16, 2006

James Jenkins wanted to end it. No more fantasies. No more molesting little girls. He knew he was the only one who could stop it; he was just waiting for the right time. The right moment arrived one night nearly three years ago when he was alone in an Accomack County, Va., jail cell. He had spent five years in a Virginia prison for sexually molesting three girls and 2 1/2 more years for violating his parole. The next morning, a prosecutor was going to ask a judge to commit him to a state facility for high-risk sex offenders. Jenkins could think of only one way out. He asked a jail guard for a razor, saying he wanted to look clean-shaven for his court hearing the next day. The guard hesitated but handed Jenkins the blade. Jenkins walked to the shower in his cell. He bit the blade out of its plastic casing and stuffed an apple in his mouth to muffle his screams. Then he castrated himself and flushed his testicles down the jail cell toilet.

Jenkins, 63, doesn't flinch when he talks about it now. "Castration has done precisely what I wanted it to do," he said. "I have not had any sexual urges or desires in over two years. My mind is finally free of the deviant sexual fantasies I used to have about young girls."

But is Jenkins really cured or did he just say he was for hope of someday having freedom?

 "There's got to be some point in time where people like Mr. Jenkins could be eligible for release," Judge Cromwell said. He said he would "seriously consider" Jenkins for conditional release when his case is reviewed next year.

There are other flaws to the system that we have to weigh. Because our justice system is controlled by humans there are errors and that means innocent people are wrongfully accused. When we wrongfully accuse someone of robbery, or murder, etc… we say sorry, and give them their freedom to move on with their lives. If we wrongfully accuse a sex offender and castrate them, we won’t be able to give those men their “jewels” back and I don’t think a sorry will do.

 Let’s not forget the fact that castration of any kind, whether it be drugs or surgical, might not deter sex offenders from committing sex crimes. The question is what drives a sex offender to commit such a crime? Is it all mental, hormonally motivated, or both. Doctors have argued for both sides… some saying castration can deter sex crimes and others saying it will have no effect. What if we trust a man in our community and the urges still invoke his thoughts? He might find ways to satisfy his drive through other sick methods.

Is sex drive so strong that no punishment will deter a person? It makes me think of myself... when I don't get sex for a long time I don't go out and rape someone. So this sickness might be something more deeper withing a person.  

Maybe we should try harsher punishment, especially for a sickness that has no cure.