Should repeat sex offenders get chemically castrated?

Francis Evrard spent half his life behind bars in France for sexually abusing children. Just days after his release from prison in August of 2007, he kidnapped, drugged and raped a 5-year-old boy.

Evrard does not deny his actions.

“The time has come for me to say that it’s true, yes. I did it, but I can’t explain why. I have impulses,” he said during trial.

Since Evrard feels that he has uncontrollable urges to molest young children, he has written a letter and asked France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy to have his testicles surgically removed to free him of his pedophile impulses.

Mustafa Kocacurt, the father of the 5-year-old boy, denounces Evrard’s letter as a stunt aimed at lowering his pending jail sentence. He feels that the justice system in France needs to do everything possible to make sure the man remains in jail for the rest of his life.

However, Evrard’s story has sparked a heated debate in France. Although the country finds mutilation unacceptable and is not even considering surgical castration, senior ministers in France are now thinking about requiring chemical castration for repeat sex offenders. Chemical castration is the use of drugs to lower the sex drive.

According to Reuters, France and a number of other European countries including Sweden and Denmark already allow chemical castration for offenders who agree to it. But now government officials like Prime Minister Francois Fillon are considering forcing some of the criminals to undergo the procedure.

The idea of castration seems unethical and inhumane. The real problem is the leniency of the jail sentences these sex offenders are given. A man who admits to raping a five year old boy needs to be thrown in jail for the rest of his life. If he were in a high security jail cell, France would not need a discussion about whether or not castration is unethical.

There is also a chance that the chemical castration will not work, and the government would be taking a huge risk by setting a man like Evrard free.

I discuss this story in the video below.