Proposed law does not address issue of child abuse, could cost the state millions says the National Assc. for Rational Sexual Offense Laws
“No other state in the union has this requirement. Do you want Louisiana to be responsible for getting this barbaric practice into law? It is now targeting people who have committed certain sexual crimes. Who could it target tomorrow? When would it stop?” Sandy Rozek, the communications director of the advocacy organization, questions the reasons behind this legislation. “All of the research is there, has been there for years,” she continues. “This is not a viable law.”
Currently, several states allow the choice of castration by the affected person, but it is something chosen by the offender, not required as part of punishment, which is what Louisiana Senate Bill 371, proposed by Sen. Regina Barrow, does. The bill applies to both male and female offenders.
The bill has been accepted in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Judiciary C.
“The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws—NARSOL—advocates for evidence-based strategies to help prevent child abuse,” Rozek says. “However, we totally oppose forced castration, both chemical and physical, for those who have committed sexual crime because it is, at best, ineffective and, at worst, barbaric.”
The research Rozek referred to, addressing forced chemical castration and other statistics, includes:
Negligible positive benefits and medically serious negative ones; (1) Very low recidivism achieved through more acceptable forms of therapy and self-motivation; (2) (3) Universal moral and constitutional objections; (4) The failure of the procedure to result in any significant reduction in future offenses as most future child molesters are not those already convicted but rather family members and other trusted individuals who are unlikely to be in the criminal justice system. (5)
“And,” interjected NARSOL’s chair Robin Vanderwall, “as abhorrent as non-consensual chemical castration is, forced physical castration goes many steps beyond. Physical castration cannot be undone when it is later discovered that individuals are, after all, not guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted, sentenced, and surgically maimed at the hands of the state.”
Senator Barrow, the author of the bill, admitted in an interview about the legislation that Louisiana has a higher-than-usual percentage of wrongful convictions. Every year DNA evidence now reveals such persons nationwide.
Vanderwall asked, “How many more victims of mistaken identification or malicious wrongful accusation exist? In addition to the violence wreaked upon innocent individuals, such situations are an open invitation to litigation against the state and the awarding of enormous amounts of taxpayer funds to be paid to those who were so brutally wronged.”
Summing up, Rozek said, “No valid reasons exist for legislation that mandates forced, non-consensual castration, either chemical or physical. NARSOL protests in the strongest possible terms the use of these practices in the treatment or management of persons with sexual crime convictions. If the people of Louisiana do not approve of state-sanctioned mutilation and placing the state at risk for expensive lawsuits, they need to make their opposition heard.”
Contact the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws or email communications@narsol.org for information or questions.