Following the Bahamas Democratic Movement’s controversial call for castration as a deterrent to rapists, former FNM Cabinet minister and lawyer Algernon Allen yesterday proposed chemical castration as a more humane solution.
He reiterated that this method of castration, achieved by inroducing the drug Depo Provera into a man’s body, decreases the production of the male hormone testosterone and consequently decreases the person’s sex drive.
Mr. Allen further explained that the chemical temporarily suppresses sexual functions “and in some cases leads to the shrinkage of the sexual organs”.
Mr. Allen said that chemical castration, as opposed to physical castration, has proven successful in reducing the number of crimes committed by habitual sex offenders.
Speaking as a guest on the ZNS talk show Immediate Response, the lawyer said that the method of chemical castartion is not a new one and has in fact been utilised for many years in the United States and Europe.
Mr. Allen said California passed a law to alow chemical castration a s a form of punishment in 1996, “followed by Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Montana and Texas.”
Source: Karin Herig, The Tribune
