All it needs is a governor's signature: A proposed bill in Louisiana intended to surgically castrate people 17 and older who are convicted of aggravated assault of a child under 13 could become law.
Works out well for anyone looking to fully transition but can't afford that phase of surgery. Louisiana wondering why all these out of state people hanging around their schools suddenly.
The first being if some states are going to try to use this against any kids charged with being child sex offenders, like several states have done with teenagers who have sex with each other (or have nude pictures of each other).
An additional concern is obviously conservatives trying to use this against trans people and drag queens, whom they are already trying to define as sex offenders just for existing in public.
Another concern or just question is...is this meant to be a deterrent? And is it even effective in that? For a lot of child sex offenders, a major component of the pleasure derived is from having power over the child in question. Removing their genitals wouldn't necessarily change that? It's possible it may even have them turn more to violence toward children as their outlet.
I'm just wondering on the effectiveness of this method. Is there any evidence at all or is this being done on an emotional whim?
This is the most legally sound argument against it.
Sure it's bad to diddle kids, but it's even worse to not have diddled kids, be accused and falsely convicted, have you genitals removed, and then on appeals the court is like "yeah sry bro they fucked that up, just reverse it".
Although a lot of people think the death penalty is bad for financial or logistical reasons, but in my opinion the biggest reason against it is that there's no quick way to revive a person when a court later on says they got it wrong.
Unless the evidentiary standard is like, "video evidence of the person stating their full name and social security number before doing it", I'm firmly against any punishment that can't be reversed or at least readily resolved like the death penalty or castration. We've got plenty of cases overturned years later on DNA evidence and the like.
Yeah, the right wing obsession with punishment is absurd. Even if we do have that level of evidence, the first reaction should be an attempt to rehabilitate, not inflict irreparable harm.
It’s also stupid because sometimes sexual abuse of a child is about power, not sexual pleasure itself.
I'm not really sure what removing a female sex offender's ovaries are supposed to do to prevent recidivism. As far as I'm aware, that wouldn't do anything but send her into early menopause; restlessness, irritability, and libido might actually increase, which may make reoffending more likely.
Yeah, it’s one of two states still using chemical castration as a punishment. Between that and still being a death penalty state it’s a rather barbaric place.
Surgical castration is quite effective. It removes the ovaries/testes which produce testosterone/estrogen. Problem is, from that point on, you probably need to take supplements, because I'm no doctor but I think you need those hormones for proper bone density control, etc.
I have a genetic condition that severely limits testosterone production. Didn't find out until I was almost 40, my health hasn't been terrible. Mental health is a different story.
I've spent the majority of my life "castrated" and it hasn't been all that bad, that being said I still had urges even with pretty much zero testosterone so I question whether it will do anything to prevent abuse.
I used to think so, too, but it turns out castrated monks and other animals have a lot of data implying they live even longer. I still think Chemical Castration would be better, though.