Efficacy of chemical castration of sexual offenders questioned
By Park Si-soo
Starting later this month, convicted rapists and sex offenders will be forced to take medication that drastically curbs sexual desire under court orders.
Officials from the Justice Ministry believe the so-called “chemical castration” would help significantly reduce the number of sex crimes.
Nearly 19,000 sex crimes were reported to police in 2009 alone, the latest statistics available, and 64 percent of the cases were perpetrated by repeat offenders.
However, many experts raise questions about the effectiveness of chemical castration.
They call it a stopgap measure, saying affected people will regain their sexual aggression when a court-set period to take the medication ends.
Medical experts also warn of possible health risks for medicine takers such as unstable blood pressure, feminization of the body and liver problems resulting from toxic elements.
A law justifying the chemical solution for sex offenders was enacted in July last year and will take effect on July 24.
Under the law, a person aged 19 or older convicted of raping a teenager under 16 will be ordered by the court to receive a hormone-based drug for up to 15 years if they are diagnosed as sex offenders and are deemed by judges as highly likely to repeat the crime.
The chemical will be injected every three months. Those caught consuming other medicines to reduce its effectiveness will face a further trial.
Kim Young-un, a justice ministry official in charge of the measure, ruled out the possibility of health risks to the affected criminals.
“Each person reacts differently to the medicine. So, we will select an ideal formula for each person out of three medicines chosen based on doctors’ prescriptions.”
Mental treatment necessary
Lee Jae-woo, president of a state-run rehabilitation center in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, underlined the measure’s effectiveness in a conference.
“We have injected the medicine into convicted pedophiles at my center after gaining their consent and found their sexual desire and fantasies halved,” Lee said at a recent conference at the National Assembly.
In contrast, many criminal and medical experts claim the chemical measure cannot be a complete solution.
“It’s fundamentally a wrong approach to the issue,” said Song Dong-ho, a psychiatrist at the Yonsei University medical school. “Many sex offenders were proven to have suffered mental problems. What they need first is mental treatment, not medication.”
Criminal psychologist Pyo Chang-won from Korea National Police University echoed the view.
“The medicine will help reduce sexual desires temporarily. But when the court-set period for injection of the medicine is over, affected people may feel stronger-than-usual sexual urges, resulting in recommitting sex crimes,” Pyo said.
Other critics expressed concern about human rights violations.
The new law gives the court the final say in deciding whether to impose the measure on a convicted offender.
They said in Europe where the method was introduced in 1929, the authorities put priority on therapy and, if considered necessary, the chemical measure is used with the consent of the affected person.
Amid rising concern surrounding the new measure, the Ministry of Justice is drawing up a guideline to appease concerns. “The guideline will be set in cooperation with legal and medical experts,” a ministry official said.