Va. Lawmaker Pushes for Castrating Sex Offenders

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

GOP State Sen. Wants Study of Physically Castrating Offenders Who Have Served Their Prison Terms; Says Treatment Too Costly

(AP) RICHMOND, Va. - A Virginia legislator is renewing his push to allow castration of sex offenders as an alternative to the increasing costs of detaining and treating them after they've served their prison sentence.

Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger's bill would require the state to study the use of physical castration as an alternative to costly civil commitment for those deemed sexually violent predators. The General Assembly approved similar legislation four years ago, but then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine vetoed it.

While opponents call the procedure barbaric and the proposal heavy-handed, Hanger argues castration is cost-effective for the state and could provide a cure for some offenders.

"I don't think it's radical at all," said Hanger, R-Augusta. "It's just something that's not typically the thing you want to bring up in polite conversation, but again the whole subject area is not for polite conversation.

"We're talking about people who are so driven because of the tendencies from the chemicals and the hormones inside their body to perform heinous acts. In that context, I think it's very appropriate to talk about something that could, perhaps, be a partial cure for them."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/26/national/main7285263.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColLowerPromoArea;morenews

[WhiteTara]

1. Obviously, a self loathing pedophile.

yes, it's conjecture. However, history tells me that if he hates it, it's him.

[rfranklin]

12. Let's be safe and apply it to all Republicans...

that way we can be sure.

[RZM]

17. Pedophiles are widely despised across society

And the religious right are some of the biggest haters. I don't approve of demonizing them more than other criminals, though of course I understand you can't have such people running around being a threat to public safety. It's really very sad, because I don't think many of them can really control themselves and I do feel sorry pedophiles who are beaten, murdered, or forced into sexual slavery by predatory prison inmates.

If someone requests to be castrated, I say let them do it . . . but forced castration sounds 'cruel and unusual' to me.

[santamargarita]

22. So are Republicans

[RZM]

25. I don't know about all of that

On DU, certainly . . . but probably not 'across society.'

[RZM]

24. Oops, wrong spot n/t

[WhiteTara]

28. I wonder if this guy will elect

to have castration when he gets caught.

[Ian David]

2. IIRC, there are some sex offenders who WANT to be castrated.

Or, that may have been an episode of Ally McBeal or Boston Legal.

[Autumn Colors]

10. Didn't Dahmer request this (when he was still alive)?? (nt)

[Chipper Chat]

3. So Mr. Hanger - tell me:

If a couple has been going steady for four years - he just turned 18 and she is 17 and 11 months - if they have sex on his birthday - then legally he is a SEX OFFENDER and you are going to castrate him! Way to go USA USA USA USA.

[FreakinDJ]

5. Yep +1

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. The article states it would be applied to "sexually violent predators"

The couple in your scenario obviously falls outside that definition.

However, the law would be pointless as "sexually violent predators" will use/have used phallic substitutes. It isn't the sex, it is the violence and degradation of the victim.

Lifelong incarceration is the only cure for that at which point castration becomes moot and thereby cruel and unusual.

[bossy22]

4. i thought a court case in the 1920s

ruled that castration was cruel and unusual?

[LisaL]

6. Maybe if the offender consents to it, castration would not be

cruel and unusual, but I don't envision many offenders agreeing to have physical castration.

[rfranklin]

13. Would it be covered under Health Care Reform?

or would there be a co-pay?

[CanonRay]

7. Yes, but we have a new and "improved" SCOTUS now!

[no_hypocrisy]

20. In Virginia in the 20s, a Supreme Court case ruled it's LEGAL to sterilize

(read, castrate) anyone the State deems "enfeebled" (read, poor, mentally and physically challenged). In Jerry Falwell's homebase of Lynchburg, the Trade School was still castrating/tying tubes until the Seventies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States

You start with defendants convicted on sex crimes, and:

1) It's permanent. You may win your freedom overturning the conviction on appeal, but you're still castrated.
2) It's sexist. What are they going to do to women convicted of "sex crimes".
3) What new class will the Legislature include in the castration-as-punishment "solution"?

[TommyO]

8. While the term is "sex offenders", these really are crimes of violence

Whether or not the perpetrator has use of his genitals, he is still very capable of attacking and raping a person. If a person is a sexually violent predator, I want them behind bars.

[trud]

9. TommyO

and for life, with no possibility of parole.

[LisaL]

31. Whether they are physically capable or not, the idea is that

after castration they will lose the drive to attack and rape someone.

[Dappleganger]

14. It doesn't work.

Evil begins in the mind, so nothing short of a lobotomy would be 100% effective.

Do they really want to go there?

[RATM435]

15. A slippery slope.

Judgment at Nuremberg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar3PUGKfjE8

[Dappleganger]

30. That's why we don't want to go there.

[LisaL]

32. It does work but of course not a 100 % effective.

"Based on the small amount of data that exist on this subject, it appears between zero and 10 percent of sexual offenders who are surgically castrated repeat their crime."
http://www.slate.com/id/2179388/

[pampango]

16. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and ..... n/t

[backscatter712]

18. The problem is that we already know what happens when sex predators are castrated.

They don't become less violent or predatory, instead they use things like broomsticks to commit their acts, being unable to "get it up".

It doesn't work. Let's try something that doesn't fall under the purview of cruel and unusual punishments.

[onehandle]

19. Onehandle Pushes for Lobotomizing of Convicted Republican Politicians.

Says Treatment Too Costly.

[Lefta Dissenter]

21. what a surprise

that it's a republican :eyes:

Jeez, I just about went off on a tirade about a different DU story a few minutes ago, but deleted my post because I had too many F-bombs in it and realized I wasn't contributing anything positive to the discussion.

But FUCK THESE GUYS!!! (figuratively speaking, of course)

They're horrible, ignorant people. (do they even qualify as "people?" - I'm not so sure anymore)

There, that was certainly a positive contribution to the conversation, wasn't it? :shrug:

[provis99]

23. well, turnabout is fair play.

How about having the federal government cut off the hands of all Republicans caught stealing?

[justiceischeap]

26. Ya know, I'm not a fan of sex offenders but this is awful and here's why

I fell asleep last night watching the ID channel (Investigative Discovery) and when I woke up this morning, there was a show about a guy who was convicted of rape but later cleared by DNA. That poor guy, if he were in VA would lose his balls because of a mistake. How about guys who get caught propositioning minors who are in bars illegally (and that shit happens a lot) and then they are labeled a sex offender. Balls be gone. I don't care how much Hanger says it's supposedly for extreme cases, so is the death penalty but innocent people are still put to death in this country (mostly in Texas but it happens all across the country).

I don't know what the hell has happened to VA other than it must have been taken over by tea bagger nutters in the last mid-term elections.

[Gin]

27. Hanger also has a bill working its way....using convicts at rest stops....

they would landscape and repair and learn new skills for when they are free again...no inside work...no orange jumpsuits.

[Blue_Tires]

29. yep, these are the kinds of people my proud commonweath send to richmond

[No Elephants]

33. Maybe we can amputate any body part involved in violent crime? How about stoning to death?