Chemical castration refers to a process where, with the help of medication, a person’s sexual drive is reduced. The process is currently being discussed for its implementation on s—x offenders in the UK as that would keep them from repeating their offense and will also help to decrease the number of s—x offenders in prison.
The provision of opting for chemical castration is already being offered as an option to sexual offenders in southwest England. As reported by Tyla, “The lead of an independent review into sentencing which could see violent criminals and sexual offenders released from prison earlier recommends exploring chemical castration for s—x offenders as a way of reducing reoffending, independent reviewer David Gauke has said.”
The review also mentioned that chemical castration may “may assist in management of suitable sex offenders both in prison and in the community.” While this is still in a discussion stage with limited access, Ministers have planned to make an announcement for a nationwide rollout of the same method and initially 20 prisons in England will be given the chance to use the necessary medications for chemical castration.
It should be noted here that, at present, the choice of undergoing chemical castration remains optional. However, the justice secretary is also considering whether to make it a mandatory requirement.
Talking about chemical castration and how it could impact the present system, independent reviewer David Gauke told Sky News, “One of our recommendations is that we think that we should continue to explore this, this is drugs that reduce sexual desire. It’s not appropriate for every sexual offender, and the evidence base for this does need to be built up.”
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He further added, “I’m not going to claim it’s the answer for everything. This is about reducing the risk of re-offending in future. There are some sex offenders who want to reduce their desires and if we can explore this, I think that is something that’s worthwhile.”
Gauke also mentioned that ultimately, the government should focus on bringing down the crime rates. When asked if chemical castration will allow prisoners to get out of jail, Gauke said, “The point being is at some point almost every prisoner will be released. We have to look across the system at doing everything we can do to minimise the risk of reoffending. You cannot remove that risk altogether.”
While his points do make sense in terms of re-offenders, it now remains to be seen if chemical castration is indeed rolled out overall in the UK and if it helps to bring the sexual crime rates down.
