Next July, the National Assembly will introduce a bill on chemical castration. Chemical castration means using hormone treatment on sexual criminals to reduce repeat offences.


Pro

Lately, the rate of child sexual assault is increasing. A law legalizing drug treatment for sex criminals was passed in the National Assembly on June 29. This is also called chemical castration. I think it is a proper countermeasure.

First, chemical castration is more realistic than other physical punishments. According to the Korean Institute of Criminology, the recurrence of sexual assault is 10% greater compared to other crimes. Accordingly, our country has introduced many punishments for dealing with sex crimes like an electronic tagging system and a personal information disclosure system. However, we have a skeptical response to the effectiveness of the electronic tagging system. The reason is the lack of manpower to monitor electronic tag wearers. Furthermore, you can also browse the personal information of the criminals through the Personal Information Disclosure System online. This is actually helpful only if citizens have an interest in it. However, in 42 countries chemical castration has already taken effect and proved its effectiveness. For instance, in Sweden and Denmark the sexual assault rate plummeted from 40% to 5% with chemical castration.

Second, sex offenders’ sexual desire can be controlled by chemical castration. Sexual assault is a crime in which criminals cannot control sexual desire. Not controlling sexual desire is a kind of disease. Criminals who commit child sexual assault need treatment to reduce abnormal sexual desires. Chemical castration is the most fundamental measure to reduce sexual crime.

Third, strong penalties are needed for sex offenders because they scar victims for life. In Korea, there is a correction program for sex offenders. However, it is not mandatory and only 20% of prisoners participate in the program.

The sexual assault rate is increasing and the second conviction rate also is increasing in spite of the existence of many programs and legal punishments for sex offenders. To reduce second convictions of sex offenders, we need a more efficient method, chemical castration, which can control sexual desire.



Con

In 2008, the Na-young case made people shocked. This case started to make people consider sexual assault. As sexual offenders have a high second conviction rate, they are becoming a big problem in our society. To decrease the second conviction rate, some people suggest using chemical castration. Chemical castration means injecting hormones to reduce offenders’ sexual desire. However, chemical castration has many side effects, so it is becoming a hot issue.

There are many ways to reduce and control sexual offenders. For example, our country is using an electronic anklet that can find offenders’ location and releasing sexual offenders’ personal information on the Web. In my view, chemical castration is not a good idea. First of all, injections of hormones are not cheap. The cost of one shot is from one hundred to two hundred thousand won. Also it is effective for one to three months. If a sexual offender uses chemical castration for 10 years, it costs from ten million won to twenty million won per person. Of course, citizens have to pay the cost through tax.

Second, as long as offenders use chemical castration, they don’t commit sexual assaults. However, if they stop using chemical castration, they commit sexual assaults again. For instance, Joseph Smith, who sexually abused many kids, selected chemical castration instead of imprisonment for 10 years. While using chemical castration, he enjoyed a normal home life, but soon after he stopped using hormones, he started to commit crimes.

Third, there are many physical and mental side effects. In the case of injecting hormones for a long period of time, offenders may suffer complications such as chronic fatigue, depression, high blood pressure, decrease of bone density, and anomalies in liver function. These kinds of complications aren’t proper punishments for sexual offenders.

Considering these things, our society is not prepared to pay for chemical castration. I think it’s better to use other ways to decrease the second conviction rate because it is not an efficient method.