The Thai Senate has passed a bill that would see sex criminals at risk of reoffending chemically castrated to reduce testosterone levels in exchange for a shorter prison sentence.
WION reports that the bill, which was approved by the lower house in March, passed through 145 senators yesterday (Monday, 12 July), with two abstentions.
However, it still requires a vote in the House as well as royal endorsement.
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Once passed, criminals would only receive the controversial procedure if they consent and have the approval of two doctors.
Despite receiving the injection, sex offenders will still be monitored for over 10 years and forced to wear electronic bracelets.
Sky News reports that from 2013 to 2020, 16,413 convicted sex offenders were released from Thai prisons.
A whopping 4,848 of those criminals reoffended.
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Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said that he wishes the bill to be passed ‘quickly’, according to Reuters.
He added: “I don't want to see news about bad things happening to women again.”
Director of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that works with domestic violence victims, Jaded Chouwilai, said that the new bill would not decrease sex crimes, according to Mirror.
“Convicts should be rehabilitated by changing their mindset while in prison,' he said.
“To use punishment like execution or injected castration reinforces the idea that offender can no longer be rehabilitated.”
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So far, chemical castration against sex offenders has been enforced in South Korea, Pakistan, Poland and some US states. Denmark, Norway and Germany have opted for surgical castration for serious sex offenders.
Sociologist Andrej König told DW that there is a lack of evidence to indicate that chemical or surgical castration effectively combats the likelihood of reoffending.
"I have never met a patient who said they took the medicine and now have no sexual fantasies or urges of masturbation," he said.
"It doesn't change their fantasies either. If a paedophile takes part in a 'chemical castration' program, his fantasies won't change. They may not be as frequent, but they still exist.”
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Criminologist Dirk Baier also told the outlet the treatment would not prevent perpetrators from acting out their inappropriate sexual urges.
"Chemical castration has not made society safer; still, it is propagated by conservative or right-wing parties as a solution for sex offenders," he said.
"It is a measure that enjoys high approval rates in some countries, where it contributes to a higher sense of security, even though there is no evidence for this."
Topics: News, World News, Crime, Politics
Charisa Bossinakis