Friday, September 14, 2012

Blog #3: Using Chemical Castration to Punish Child Sex Crimes

Using Chemical Castration to Punish Child Sex Crimes

Last week a 7-year-old girl was abducted and raped last week in South Korea.  President Lee Myung-Bak is now considering different ways of punishing her abductor, but the one option which has gained international attention is chemical castration.  This form of medicine can be administered by injection or tablets that make it impossible for a person to engage in sexual activities.  It does not harm the individual and is easily reversible by not taking the drug. 
    People are classified daily as sex offenders for simple accusations to the extremities of rape.  Convicted offenders rarely find the law to be on their side, but on the topic of chemical castration, many find that it violates human rights.  There are two ways that it has been used as a punishment: governmental force or by consensual use during probationary periods to reduce jail time.  Amnesty International has claimed that forced use of chemical castration is “inhuman treatment.”  It has been compared to cutting off the hand of a thief which is a very symbolic punishment. 
    In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states that a person has a right that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”  This procedure has many side effects like osteoporosis, blood fat levels, blood pressure symptoms and can even put your cardiovascular health at risk.  Is it inhuman to force an individual to consume a drug that could put their overall health at risk?  This is the current argument as the President debates what is the right punishment for such a terrible crime.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/health/chemical-castration-science/index.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I personally feel that if they are guilty of such crimes, they should be put through such a punishment. They have basically ruined a childs life, or at least to some degree created psychological issues for them. I feel that if they felt it necessary to committ the crime, they deserve the punichment they get.