(No, JDT, this isn’t your thread–that one’s down below a ways)
My local radio station was having a debate this morning over castration for rapists–is it good, bad, preventative, whatever. Now, I haven’t had time to do any research (I’m “busily” working hard…um…), and so don’t really know what goes into this castration (is it an actual medical procedure or performed chemically? I think they’re done both ways) and am a little silly for the lack of said research.
However, my take on the situation is that castration probably isn’t going to solve much or be a deterrent. In my opinion, rape isn’t a sexual act for the repeat rapist, but rather a power trip. For him (or her), it’s an act of power–who has it, and who doesn’t. For these sorts of people, castration isn’t going to stop them–if they can’t rape a woman with a penis, they’ll do it with something else.
This is my take. However, after hearing the radio discussion, I immediately thought of you good people. So whaddya think?
Hmmm. Interesting question. As a purely emotional device to provide closure to the victim, I might not only support it, I might be willing to hand the victim the Ceremonial Rusty Cheese Grater.
However if, as has been stated, rape is not a sex crime but rather a domination crime, I wonder if castration might actually increase the feelings of powerlessness that led to the crime in the first place?
IIRC, California and the Districe perform chemical castration, whereby people get this:
“On September 18, 1996, AB 3339 became law, amending section 645 of the Penal Code. The amended statute provides
that any person guilty of a first conviction of specified sex offenses, where the victim is under 13 years of age, may be required to receive medroxy progesterone acetate treatment upon parole, and any person convicted of two such offenses must receive the treatment during parole. This medication is administered by injection and has the effect of lowering the testosterone level, blunting the sex drive. The parolee begins the treatments prior to his release on parole and the treatments continue until the Department of Corrections demonstrates to the Board of Prison Terms that this treatment is no longer necessary.”
Or to put into layman’s terms, they flood males with synthetic female hormones until they don’t want to rape anyone any longer.
Ludicrous joke:
What’s the difference between an enzyme and a hormone?
You can’t hear an enzyme.
Now, California at least has something like the resources to do this correctly, but if the District does it, I’d expect something along the lines of a staple remover and an aspirin to tape on it.
I think California’s statuate would work if the rapist was motiviated by his sex drive–however, I don’t think rapists are motivated by sex, but rather by power. The power to hurt another human being and dominate them, for whatever reason. If castration can be shown to lessen or eliminate the feelings of inadequacy and hatred that may cause a man to rape, hey, then I’ll be all for it.
Because I believe that the act of rape is, at the end of it all, an act of violence, I agree that castration will not prevent further violent acts.
And if someone is this violent to begin with, reducing his package might be a really bad idea.
Besides, there are some really scary statistics floating around somewhere about how many offenders are falling through large cracks in the parole/probation system, so who’s to say that they will even get their shots?
I believe that there are certain violent crimes for which you should lose your human race membership card. Under certain circumstances, rape can be one of them.
Castrating people’s not going to do a lick of good. Yeah, it has a nice revengey feel to it, but so what? If somebody raped a member of my family I’d want the bastard to be boiled alive in hot oil. Doesn’t mean we should make it a law. Justice isn’t based on revenge. We’re rational human beings capable of compassion for the lowest of the low. Rape is an awful crime, but that’s no excuse for state sponsored mutilation.
And what if you castrate the wrong guy? The legal system isn’t perfect, ya know. Hard to give somebody his balls back once you’ve cut 'em off.
Finally, I must lend my support to the “rape is a power thing” argument. I’ve got a sex drive that would shame a bull, but the thought of raping somebody makes me sick to my stomach. When I see a beautiful woman in a thong bikini I may ogle and drool, but the thought of taking her by force never crosses my mind. Rape is a different animal.
I’m with Caliban on this. If you think castration is a legit way to deal with rape, then tell me why we shouldn’t amputate the hands of the MF that broke into my house and stole my TV.
There are countries (so I hear) that do this sort of thing, but I’m glad I don’t live there.
Not to cloud the issue of cruel and unusual punishment, but testosterone is clearly part of agressiveness. Look at steroids and double-y chromos. Anti-testosterone shots or upped estrogen levels may reduce the power induced rage. Castration, as well, should stop much (if not all) testosterone production (isn’t that made in the testes?). Clearly they could still rape as they wouldn’t have lost the penis, though I think erections are a different thing altogether after castration. I, as well, haven’t done research into it
Whether rape is power driven or sex driven, decreasing testosterone by any means will probably be very effective. Now, how do we go about it…
[sub]This is Bob. Bob has bitch tits.[/sub]
Oh, uhhh…oops!
Exactly. The punishment should be reversible at any time, except for, of course, death. Castration seems a little… barbaric, anyway, even for a rapist. They could still use something else, anyway, like a broom stick, tennis racket etc… I’m sure they could find a way.
Some people (mostly men) are “preferential rapists”. For them, rape IS about sex - it’s the kind of sex they would rather have, above all other kinds.
For these people, chemical castration is not punishment, it is medical treatment for their psychiatric disorder.
IIRC, abusers fall into two categories; people who do it because they like the power, and people who do it because they enjoy the act itself. For example, some people molest children because they are intimidated by adult relationships; others are actually sexually aroused by children and childlike attributes. The former respond well to rehabilitation and the latter require more drastic measures.
