Should sex offenders be castrated?

Summary of YES:

·       What we are currently doing about our sex offenders is failing

·       We should realize that many sex offenders are victims of overwhelming sexual impulses in which they cannot control.

·       One dr. stated that testosterone can be so strong in some men to be overwhelming.

·       Castration would allow offenders to be more open to rehab and increase their likelihood of a successful rehab.

·       It’s a simple surgical procedure.

·       Voluntary castration was made legal in demark and the results were amazing

·       The recidivism rate of those castrated dropped to 4.3% compared to 76% of those not castrated.

·       A study of 550 sex offenders found that the number of actual victims totaled 190,000

Summary of NO:

·       The greatest and most controversial issue is the removal of a mans ability to procreate as a punitive measure.

·       Castration would violate their rate to privacy held in Griswold

·       Castration would violate the 8^th amendment as being cruel and unusual.

·       It would be cruel and unusual because states cannot show that castration is the least restrictive means of exercising their police powers to protect their citizens.

Reflection:

            Freedom is the greatest privilege we have as American citizens. However, it is not until we face losing such freedom that we recognize how important it is to us. To place a sex offender in the situation of choosing castration and freedom, or prison and therefore no freedom will surely lead to a majority of offenders choosing castration and freedom.  As I mentioned freedom is a privilege and not a right that cannot ever be taken away. Rather, we say that if you commit certain acts (crimes) you forfeit your privilege of freedom by going to prison for a certain number of years. However, most of the time offenders are allowed to regain their freedom in whole or in part once they serve their time. Castration is forever punishment for a non-capital offense that we have never accepted in our society. To suggest that we should castrate offenders, even though its “voluntary” in a way, would be to say that we should cut the hands off of those who commit larceny or even break the legs of those who flee from police. Both of those are felonies but our society has always strived to punish offenders in a reasonable way. Punishments for non-capital crimes that last forever are not the punishments we as a society have ever acceptable nor shall we.