Sydney - Australia's most populous state New South Wales was asked on Wednesday to consider chemical castration for child sex offenders as a nationwide police crackdown continued on child pornography.
The proposal came from conservative opposition justice spokesperson Andrew Humpherson, who said child sex offenders are almost impossible to rehabilitate and chemical castration was proving an effective remedy in some European countries.
"Chemical castration is a process whereby, via injection and the application of a variety of drug alternatives, the propensity, the desire to molest, the urge to molest children in particular, can be substantially diminished," he told reporters.
He said chemical castration was reducing recidivism to as low as five percent in countries such as Denmark and Sweden.
Continues Below ↓
'It would not resolve the mental issues that primarily drive sex offenders' Child sex abuse has become Australia's most talked about crime since police launched a nationwide crackdown on Internet child pornography almost two months ago, arresting hundreds of suspects, at least six of whom have committed suicide.
Teachers, clergymen, doctors, police and even a detective in a child sex squad were among those arrested in the crackdown, which is part of a global operation against child pornography linked to organised crime in eastern Europe.
In New South Wales, which includes Australia's biggest city of Sydney, almost 50 people have been charged and another 80 are under investigation.
The state accounts for 34 percent of the country's 20 million population and often leads the way in law reform.
Humpherson is a member of the Liberal-National coalition which, though in opposition in the eastern state, is leading in opinion polls ahead of an election in 2005.
He said if a convicted sex offender is to be released on parole, chemical castration should be a condition of a reduction of their maximum jail sentence.
"Their release on parole poses a threat to the community," Humpherson said.
"In those circumstances we want the government to consider chemical treatment, chemical castration as a condition of parole to protect the community and to reduce the likelihood of re-offending."
The Labour government's Justice Minister John Hatzistergos said chemical castration only treats the physical urge. "It would not resolve the mental issues that primarily drive sex offenders," he said.
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
