Castration On Sex Offenders

2.3 Research Studies on the practice of castration on sex offenders (3 pages)

Many researches have shown both favoring and disfavoring arguments regarding castration on sex offenders. Although many opponents of castration have argued that castration has been very effective on sex predators and should be used as a deterrent to minimize rape, many studies on the other hand have proven that both chemical and surgical castration not only fails in reducing in its entirety the libido and subsequently the sexual desires of sexual predators but also, studies have found out that sex offenders after been castrated, still rape.

We cannot understand sexual offenses without having knowledge of how human sexuality is configured, and what sexual behavior

According to the article “Chemical Castration for Sexual Offenders: Physicians’ Views” by urologists Joo Yong Lee and Kang Su Cho, chemical castration is ineffective because after discontinuation, sexual drive could still be recovered, again illustrating the point explained earlier about castration. In addition, it was also found that castration affects negatively sexual perpetrators and in the article, Yong Lee and Su Cho pointed out the long-term side effects of implementing castration on sexual perpetrators as they said “… chemical castration is associated with various side effects, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and impaired glucose and lipid metabolism. Depression, hot flashes, infertility, and anemia can also occur. Given that the minimal duration of treatment is 3 to 5 years for severe paraphilia when a high risk of sexual violence exists, the side effects of chemical castration can increase in a time-dependent manner” thus implementing methods such as castration (either surgical or chemical) to stop pedophiles from raping not only shows its ineffectiveness but also does more harm than good. The article “Does Castration Stop Rapists?” by Russel Goldman supports the same claim and in his article, a urologist named Andrew Kramer stated that although after castration testosterone levels would significantly drop, it would not be all the way to zero meaning it could be reversible. In addition, according to that same article, “Some 65 percent of castrated sex offenders reported a drop in sex drive, according to a German study conducted in the 1960s, but 18 percent reported being able to function regularly 20 years after the procedure” again stating the reversibility of the procedure and not the cure or penance of it. To sum up, rape is not about