Castration for Child Molesters

Sexual abuse can be hard to define because of the many different forms it can take on, the different levels of frequency, the variation of circumstances that can occur. Until a child is fit to function as a self-supporting and informed adult, we have an obligation not to take advantage of their lack of power or protection to inflict damage, or demand submission to acts that are not in their own best interests within. Children are being abused every day in different countries. While commonly accepted wisdom had been that childhood sexual abuse results in long lasting negative outcomes.

Castration anxiety as outlined by Freud is when a boy looks at his mother and realizes she does not have a penis, he views his mom as castrated and thus to him his mother is a warning of his castration. Carol Clover in Her Body Himself and Dumas in Horror and Psychoanalysis have elaborated on this concept in the genre of the horror explaining that castration anxiety is not only fear of penile harm but of one’s power being taken away.

Chemical castration is a reversible treatment for those with urges to commit sex crimes, as well as those who have had a history of convicted sex crimes. This drug treatment helps to lower sex drives and decrease aggressive and violent tendencies. There are side effects to this drug just as there are for every other medicine on the market. Although it was not created for men, they suffer no extra side effects than the women. Chemical castration is an exceptional alternative to prison time or it works as a stepping block for integration back into society. It is a more cost effective alternative as well as being more efficient in correcting the problem as opposed to locking it up. With strict guidelines and continual use it can be the most effective course of action for sexual offenders today.

Consider Multisystemic Therapy as an advanced treatment for adolescent sex offenders. Adolescent sex offenders are defined as prepubescent youths who engage in abusive behavior that is sexual in nature and that occurs “without consent, without equality, and as a result of coercion, manipulation, game-playing, or deception (Shawn, 199).” These adolescents do not demonstrate positive sexuality; and, therefore, require a multi-disciplinary approach that provides a high-intensity therapeutic intervention, such as Multisystemic Therapy. MST is an intensive family and community-based treatment that addresses the multiple factors of serious sexually maladaptive behavior in adolescent abusers, for the onset of sexual offending behavior in these youth can be linked to numerous factors reflected in their “experiences, exposure, and/or developmental deficits” (Hunter, 1999). Thus, treatment

Sex offenders tend to blend in to society virtually unnoticed until they offend or reoffend (Polizzi, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 1999). Currently, there is a large group of mental health professionals representing a variety of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry clinical social work, counseling, and medicine, that continue to believe in the potential efficacy of treating sex offenders. Over the past decade, the sex offender treatment field has grown rapidly and the treatment of juvenile sex offenders is on the rise (Parks & Bard, 2006). The rationale for treating juvenile offenders is based on research which indicates that inappropriate sexual behavior patterns develop early and a failure to intervene and change behavior early often means that the offender will continue to escalate his/her inappropriate behavior, which could present an even greater danger to society (Ayland & West, 2006). Vivian-Bryne, (2004) suggests that professionals who treat adult sex offenders report that offenders who are incarcerated will eventually return to the community and therefore, therapeutic measures should be taken to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend even if those measures have not conclusively been identified as effective. Sexual offenders may find therapy valuable because it can allow them to retrace their upbringing to help them identify and understand the roots of their

Genetics, abnormal hormonal levels and brain dysfunction have all been linked to sexual offending. To date, there is no evidence of a genetic in sex-offending (Langevin, 1993), although case reports of pedophilic fathers and sons have been reported (Gaffner, Lurie & Berlin, 1984). Some researchers have hypothesised this to be reflective of neuro-endocrine abnormalities, such that abnormal hormonal levels may disrupt the sexual arousability of an individual. This is based on the belief that the endocrine system drives sexual behaviour (Langevin, 1993). There is some evidence for this in the literature with peripheral blood samples of pedophiles indicating abnormal testosterone levels (Bain et al., 1988) and increased

Sexual assault is one of the fastest growing violent crimes in America. Approximately 20% of all people charged with a sexual offense are juveniles. Among adult sex offenders, almost 50% report that their first offense occurred during their adolescence. (FBI, 1993) There are many different opinions, treatment options and legislation to manage the growing numbers of juvenile sex offenders. In today’s society the psychological and behavioral modification treatments used to manage juvenile sex offenders is also a growing concern. To understand and determine the proposed treatment methods, several related issues will need to be reviewed such as traditional sex offender therapy methods like cognitive therapy and alternative therapies like

The treatment for sexual offenders is done in a three principal approach which is cognitive behavioral approach, psycho-educational approach, and pharmacological approach. The cognitive behavioral approach gives emphasis on altering the habits of the offended relating toward sexual offending and “deviant patterns of arousal”. (CSOM) This means altering the daily habits of the offender which may be everything they had known previously to incarceration. The second principal of psycho-educational focuses on altering the offender’s state of mind toward their victims and attempts to instill the understanding of how they inflicted harm with their actions. With psychology there is never a set time on how long a set goal will be reached. Times vary between individuals and can sometime never reach their desired outcome. In conjunction with those previous principals the offenders are also treated under the pharmacological

     Cohen, Seghorn, and Calmas (1969) described three types of child molesters derived from their clinical studies. One type had a history of relatively normal functioning and the incident of molestation appears to reflect a reaction to a severe threat to their sense of sexual adequacy. Another type had a history of poor social-sexual functioning and is regarded as primitive and immature in terms of social-sexual skills. The last type they found in their study had offenses involving cruel and vicious assaults on children and the act of molestation is regarded as more aggressive then sexual. (Mc Creary, 1975)

Perpetrators of sex crimes committed against children often start by gaining the trust of potential victims and the adults in their lives’ by using a tactic called “grooming.” The purpose of this memo is to give the court a baseline understanding of what sex offender victim grooming is, its purpose, and techniques. Because of the extensive amount of research and information on this topic, this paper does not detail all of the grooming techniques used by child sex offenders to groom potential victims.

The issue of castration has many layers in terms of its use punitively. The biggest area of debate is the rate of success and if sex offender’s problem is physical or psychological. In addition, is the use of castration constitutional? Some people argue that compulsory castration is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment. However, does the unconstitutional nature change when castration is voluntary and the decision is made by the offender? Moreover, does labeling castration as a treatment make it constitutional? There are many questions that need to be addressed, and these are only some of the reasons the use of castration is debated. These issues will be addressed by discussing the support of castration

In 2005, Lösel & Schmucker conducted a meta-analysis of sexual offender treatment. Featuring 69 studies containing 80 independent comparisons between treated and untreated offenders. treated offenders showed 37% less sexual recidivism compared to the control groups. Organic treatments such as

Russell (1997) informs that there are two forms of castration: chemical and surgical. According to Chism (2013), the oldest and most effective approach to controlling deviant sexual urges and reducing recidivism rates of male sex offenders is surgical castration. This is partially backed up by the data given by McMillian (2014), who composed a study of 104 men, revealing the recidivism rate as 3% for those who had been castrated compared to 45% with those who had not. Cauley (2014) identified cases where surgical castration has been used nationally and in the United States, showing that castration is quite effective.

I agree with the International New York Times editorial board "Editorial: The Pointless Banishment of Sex Offenders." because the authors show that there truly is unfairness in banishing sex offenders. While I understand that this measure is to ensure that the children are protected from sexual abusive but "Laws around the country restricting where people convicted of sex offenses may live — in many cases, no closer than 2,500 feet from schools, playgrounds, parks or other areas where children gather.", is stated in the article. That being said, a new law should be established,

In 2002 the Catholic Church was rocked with scandalous reports of Priests sexually molesting young children and particularly boys. The scandal is the result of numerous investigations, allegations, arrests, trials, convictions and imprisonment of Catholic Priests. It became largely reported that once trusted and respected Catholic Priests were pedophiles. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categorizes pedophilia as a mental disorder if the sexual fantasies or urges involve prepubescent children , if they last six months or longer, if the individual has acted on them, or if they cause marked distress” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).