This appeared in www.Ninemsn.com.au as a News Item. Any volunteers to act as the testicle executioner? Might become a permanent career for the right person
RAPIST AGREES TO CASTRATION
Wednesday Sep 12 06:01 AEST
AP - A confessed rapist in Florida has agreed to be castrated in a plea deal that could reduce his prison sentence from a possible life sentence.
Bobby James Allen pleaded guilty to three counts of armed sexual battery and various other charges involving attacks that happened in 1998 and 1999. Allen filed a motion requesting castration in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet agreed to sentence Allen to 25 years' prison on Sept 20 if he has the procedure in the next eight days. If Allen does not go through with the operation, he faces up to life in prison.
"You understand that this procedure is the removal of your testicles?" Overstreet asked Allen.
Allen said he wanted to be castrated, The News Herald reported.
"I have spoken with all the victims," prosecutor Larry Basford told Overstreet. "They agree that this sentence punishes him and would deter him and others from similar acts."
Allen would be classified as a dangerous sexual offender and must serve every day of his 25-year sentence, prosecutors said.
I just checked out that link, saw many news items on that page but no link to the rapist's sentencing.
That said... I have for a long time now thought that this would be a great idea, to offer a convicted man a chance to reduce his sentence by accepting castration. But in this particular case, I think castration is not enough, this rapist could and probably will still get testosterone through HRT. After he is out he could easily get his T-levels back up to pre-castration levels.
For any violent offender, (e.g. robbers, wife beaters, common thugs and such) he should be offered the standard sentence, but offer a reductioin of five years if he agrees to castration and permanent monitoring of T-levels. But for sex offenders (rapists, molestors) I think they need to go farther, a complete nullification for a reduction of five to seven years.
Please keep us all posted and up to date on this case.
If a convicted rapist agrees to castration and is given an early release, his name should be placed in some kind of computer registry police file so that when he goes to the pharmacy to get a "testosterone" HRT prescription filled, it's automatically denied. He still could get testosterone on the street, but at least that's some what more difficult. If a convicted rapist is castrated, given early release, he should be forewarned that if he is convicted of another rape, he'll also lose his penis.
Rape is more about violence and control than sex. Castration may be a good idea but not for the reduction of the sentence. Believe me the vicitm suffers long after the sentence has been served. If the offender is still angry after the surgery and release from prison he will still find ways to dominate and degrade others.
tugon (imported) wrote: Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:30 am
Rape is more about violence and control than sex. Castration may be a good idea but not for the reduction of the sentence. Believe me the vicitm suffers long after the sentence has been served. If the offender is still angry after the surgery and release from prison he will still find ways to dominate and degrade others.
Sorry Tugon, but the whole "rape is about power / domination, not about sex" is a femenist idea that has been repeated over & over as fact when it's not. Without T, sex offense recidivism plummets to less than 2%.
I spent several years working with sex offenders. Castration doesn't stop offenders. Tugon is correct, rape is about power and control. If the offender has been castrated and doesn't get erections he can still rape using fingers, dildos, sticks, whatever. What castration does do is satisfy the victim and people in the community who support it. Ramses, where do you get the 2% recidivism number from?
The question of the efficacy of ANY kind of treatment for sex offenders is currently being debated by the Sexnet listserve group. A lot of heat (and very little light) has been generated by the debate thus far. Some, such as Dr. Michael Seto (one of the major lights in the field), argue that there is currently zero scientific evidence that anything works. Others, such as Dr. Paul Federoff, argue that there is ample evidence that some treatment regimens are quite effective.
The use of castration, both chemical and surgical, has been a part of the discussion, but with no clear consensus even as to how to approach the available data. There does, though, seem to be some agreement that chemical castration is less likely to be effective in that some offenders who have been tracked have found ways to avoid using the drugs and have re-offended once they were off them.
My stand in the argument, based on several European studies, is that VOLUNTARY surgical castration, especially if it is difficult to obtain, seems to be effective. My favorite study is one by Wille & Beier looking at 104 sex offenders in Germany. Men who are imprisoned for sex offenses may apply to be castrated. A committee decides (based on criteria unspecified in the article) to allow castration or not, and only a minority are approved.
The 104 who were castrated were compared with a control group who had requested castration, but had been denied. The recidivism rate for those castrated was 3%. It was 46% for those not castrated.
Wille & Beier also refer to a number of other European studies tracking a total of 2,618 sex offenders who had been castrated. They found a total recidivism rate of 2.25%, though there were no control groups for any of those studies.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Fedoroff, P. (1995). Antiandrogens vs serotonergic medications in the treatment of sex offenders: a preliminary compliance study. The Canadian Journal of Human sexuality, 4, 111-122.
Gijs, L., & Gooren, L. (1996). Hormonal and psychopharmacological interventions in the treatment of paraphilias: An update. The Journal of Sex Research, 33, 273-290.
Hanson, R. K., et al. (2002). First report of the Collaborative Outcome Data Project on the effectiveness of treatment for sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14, 169-194.
Seto, M. C. (2007). Treatment of pedophilia. In G. O. Gabbard (Ed.), Gabbards treatments of psychiatric disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, pp. 657669.
Seto, M. C. (2008). Pedophilia and sexual offending against children: Theory, assessment, and intervention. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wille, R., and Beier, K.M. (1989). Castration in Germany. Annals of Sex Research 2:103-133.
Thanks for the great sources, Jesus. I believe the study I had in mind was a Scandanavian study from the 90's. I will try and find exact study tonight. On a side note, it seems that when I read stories about castration being ineffective for reoffenders, it's always someone that was chmically castrated and quit taking the drugs.... well, duh!
The sad thing is that a man can not seek help and tell a therapist that he feels dangerous to children. By law the therapist would have to report him and he'd be treated like a criminal for just admitting the affliction. I feel sory for people that are cursed with a sick attraction to children. I think these people are born that way but when they cross the line it's time to cut their nuts off. If you can't handle the responsibility of testicles, you should simply be relieved of them and sent on your merry way!
I agree with Ramses. Rape being about power and domination is feminist propoganda. Rape always has been and always will be about sex.
Going from life to 25 years is not enough. 25 years in prison might as well be eternity. I'd like to see voluntary surgical castration offered to offenders in exchange for no sentence at all, preferably, but at least more than a few years knocked off. If we are going to insist on a punishment model for our criminal justice system, which in my view does nothing more than satisfy the vengeful lusts of the victim and society rather than do anything to stop crime, then surely castration is punishment enough. And of course the castration should be required to have therapy and supervision accompany it.
Castration is nothing to be taken lightly and will have severe psychological reprocussions for those who do not want it. Any offender requesting castration should be required to first receive a full education on the procedure and its effects.
Of course those offenders who will not or cannot undergo castration should be prevented from being able to harm anyone else, but it would be nice to see them get some real help and a second chance rather than punishment that will do nothing for them and even less for society.
As far as getting scripts for T later on is concerned, usually that is not going to be an issue because very little of the sentence is knocked off for castration, so he will still be locked up for a long time. And I would be surprised if someone who has been without T for 25 years suddenly decided they wanted T again - by then you forget everything you felt on T. I already have after only 2 years. But I would support a sort of verification system like the one you mentioned, although I don't necessarily find it fair that all people getting a script for T would have to be run through the system.
You could always microchip those banned from T as part of the agreement. We lock up too many people in this country. If we could neutralize someone as a threat, I think castrating them would be enough punishment. You could always require a penectomy to keep them from ever doing T. I can't imagine wanting T if you dont have a penis. What a torture!
