Last Friday, Poland, after a year of deliberation, passed a law that will enforce chemical castration for pedophiles. In response to human rights activists, Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tursk, has said that he didn’t think, “one [could] use the term ‘human’ for such individuals, such creatures” (Poland). The offender will be forced by the government to take a pill that will reduce his sex drive without causing any physical damage. In an article by Sarah Boseley, dated June 14, 2007, she discusses various drugs used by the United States the most prevalent of which is Depo-Provera. She says, “This is injected progesterone, used worldwide as a long-term female contraceptive, which also inhibits testosterone production in men” (Boseley). She concludes her article stating that these initiatives will not work because sexual crime is “about power, violence and humiliation - not libido”.

Obviously many questions arise when dealing with these issues the most prevalent of which are: Does this treatment violate the rights of the individual?  Does this treatment constitute as cruel and unusual punishment?  Does this treatment work? 

 Nathaniel Hawthorne opens the Scarlet Letter by saying that in all society two things are necessary: a jail and a graveyard.  Our nation is founded on the belief that people will break the laws -  that’s why we have them. We know that people will violate the rights of others.  And in some ways this law seems to simply be an outworking of Lex Talionis: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.  The government is basically saying that if you choose, in your freedom, to commit an act of sexual abuse against a child, we, as a government responsible for the protection of our citizens, will force you to take a drug that will help to stop this problem.  In this way, sexual abuse is becoming comparable with murder, where chemicals are used to kill, albeit, a much larger entity.  I think it is largely agreed upon that when an individual commits a heinous crime, they sacrifice their rights.  They are no longer to be treated as a normal citizen; they have committed a crime against the communal body, and it is the government duty to punish them accordingly.  So much for the individual’s rights.

 This law is certainly radical.  Yet think of the long lasting effects it could have on a sexual offender.  Instead of serving time in prison and then being subject to societal estrangement, these men, and women I suppose, could gradually be brought back into repute.  Instead of suffering under a lifetime of confinement, difficulties with employment, etc, they could begin a new life, free from their addictions to sexual sin.  When drug addicts are convicted, are they not sentenced to rehabilitation clinics so that they can move on and start a new life?  OK, so then this is the really big question: is it the government’s job to decide this for them?  Wouldn’t it be much better if these people came forward and said, ‘I want to be clean; chemically castrate me please.’”  Yes.  It would be much better.  And this is being offered in several US states.  Another question: Should my tax dollars go towards helping rapists clean up their act?  I don’t know; I’m paying for them to be in prison right?

I’m not a doctor so this question is beyond me. But, from a little reading, it seems that this drug, when terminated, stops doing what it was doing. That’s it. So when you’re off the drug, you’re good to go. Having said that, this puts more pressure on the government to continue treatments creating, perhaps, a more expensive means of facilitation. From what I know of the human condition, sin will always be knocking at the door. Sexual crime will always occur as men worship their appetites and lusts. But – this seems like a logical, perhaps valuable punishment for those that choose to indulge in these criminal appetites. Maybe this would convince people to think through their crime and decide that the risk of chemical castration just isn’t worth it. But I would be shocked into pedophilia if this was passed in our country. Ok not really.

Sources:

Baczynska, Gabriela. "Poland Okays Forcible Castration For Pedophiles." 27 Sept. 09. Web. 29 Sept. 2009. http://current.com/items/91039209_poland-okays-forcible-castration-for-pedophiles.htm.

Boseley, Sarah. "What is Chemical Castration?" 14 June 2007. Web. 29 Sept. 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/jun/14/ukcrime.health.