A US STATE has become the first to impose surgical castration on those convicted of sex crimes against children.
Authorities in Louisiana have approved a law that would legally allow sex offenders guilty of crimes – including rape, incest and molestation – to undergo the irreversible medical process.
Unlike chemical castration, surgical castration is a much more invasive procedure that involves the removal of both testicles or ovaries – something that cannot be undone.
The law will now allow judges to order surgical castration for men or women who committed a sexual offence against a child under 13 in Louisiana.
It also includes pornography involving juveniles as an underlying offence and it’s also not just limited to male offenders, WAFB reports
The US state now becomes the fourth place in the world to have the law after the Czech Republic, Nigeria and Madagascar – all known for harsh criminal laws.
Democratic Senator Regina Barrow, who authored the law, said she received several “devastating reports” of sexual violence against children – with some cases resulting in death.
She said: “You have those people who are really sick and I’ve heard about some of those cases where they don’t know if anything would really help except to keep them incarcerated.
“So, in that scenario, we need to keep them incarcerated.”
Barrows says she hopes the “threat of losing a part of one’s body” would keep child abusers from committing heinous crimes.
The procedure would happen no less than a week after they were released from jail.
However, if an offender fails to show up or refuses the procedure, they could be sentenced to another three to five years.
It is understood the punishment is not automatic and would be at the discretion of the judge.
Republican state Sen. Valarie Hodges said of the law: “This is a consequence.
“It’s a step over and beyond just going to jail and getting out.”
While the state currently has 2,224 people in prison for such crimes, the law can only be applied to those convicted on or after August 1, 2024.
For more than 15 years, Louisiana has had a law that allows judges to impose chemical castration against child sex offenders – similar to a handful of other states including California, Florida and Texas.
Chemical castration uses medications that block testosterone production to decrease sex drive – and is a reversible procedure that can be treated with medication.
In April, judges ordered Glenn Sullivan Sr of Springfield, Louisiana, to undergo chemical castration after he was fund guilty of raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl, according to WBRZ.
But surgical castration is a much more invasive procedure that involves the removal of both testicles or ovaries – something that cannot be undone.
However, some critics have argued that the government should rather focus on the rehabilitation of those found guilty of such crimes.
Others have attacked the law saying it “mutilates people’s bodies”
Katrina Sifferd, a philosophy professor at Elmhurst University, said: “We don’t rape rapists. We don’t cut off the hands of thieves.”
