Castration option for sex offenders?
PA Adelaide Sex offenders and child abusers may be offered chemical castration as an option to jail under a radical new treatment programme being considered in South Australia.
The Minister of Health, Mr John Cornwall, said he favoured use of drugs, although he admitted the scheme was controversial and would meet opposition.
Dr Cornwall said the stark reality was that there were some pedophiles who had abused scores of children.
The proposal has been put forward by a Government working party which has also recommended setting up a specialist assessment and treatment unit for sex offenders. The committee said 80 per cent of imprisoned sex attackers reoffended but the rate of reoffending dropped to 20 per cent
when abusers received treatment.
Drugs that have been used fall into two main categories — hormonal preparations and major tranquillisers. The drugs have the ability to reduce the libido and arousal of offenders and the effects are reversible. Dame Roma Mitchell, head of the South Australian Council on Child Protection, which has endorsed the report, said drugs should only be used on a voluntary basis as part of general psychiatric treatment.
Courts would also need to be satisfied that the offender was fully informed and mentally able to understand the effects of the treatment.
“It is an option which the offender may take and which may have the effect of his not having a custodial sentence or at least a shorter custodial
sentence,” she said. “You cannot shut a man away for 20, 30 or 40 years because he has sexually abused even a number of children — you have got to work to release him into the community.” Dame Roma said the United States and some northern European countries implemented drug programmes, although there had not been much long-term research done into the treatment.
Dr Cornwall said it was not possible to rely solely on use of drugs because there were only some instances in which they were likely to be effective.
He said the programme would be like a condition of parole whereby offenders would have to present themselves at regular intervals for treatment.
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Press, 12 July 1988, Page 17
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356Castration option for sex offenders? Press, 12 July 1988, Page 17
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