Not content with passing medieval laws regulating women’s bodies, the Alabama legislature has just voted to mandate indefinite chemical castration for men convicted of sex offenses against a child under 13 as a condition of release from prison. And they’ll have to pay for it themselves. This is really not the equality we were hoping for.
We don’t know who needs to hear this, but of course we’re not diminishing the seriousness of pedophilia. At the same time, we can’t allow bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Steve Hurst, to use inflammatory rhetoric to obscure the glaring problems with this statute. Hurst told Birmingham CBS affiliate WIAT-TV:
I had people call me in the past when I introduced it and said don’t you think this is inhumane? I asked them what’s more inhumane than when you take a little infant child, and you sexually molest that infant child when the child cannot defend themselves or get away, and they have to go through all the things they have to go through. If you want to talk about inhumane–that’s inhumane.
He also told the station that he hopes fear of possible castration will make potential sex offenders think twice before committing crimes, which is not entirely consistent with the stated goal of protecting minors from dangerous predators with an incurable psychological compulsion who have paid their debt to society but literally cannot help themselves.
In fact, the statute is a hot mess of bad drafting, which is why its sponsors are leaning hard on the horrifying images of infant sexual abuse to distract from the fact that it treats a flasher the same as a serial rapist — both are subject to mandatory, indefinite chemical castration, with no regard for their likelihood of recidivism. (See Alabama Code Section 15-20A-5 for the list of offenses which can trigger Hurst’s mandatory castration law.)
Secondly, the law requires all sex offenders to undergo medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment, AKA Depo Provera injections. For men, this results in impotence and lack of sexual desire. For women, it does … nothing, except possibly make them chubby and infertile. Nevertheless, the law requires a woman (or a quadriplegic, or a 95-year-old on hospice care) to begin treatment at least a month before scheduled release and continue until a judge gives her the okay to stop. If a parolee of either gender terminates treatment without permission of the court, then he or she must immediately submit for re-incarceration, or be guilty of a Class C felony.
What grounds might a judge consider for allowing an offender to discontinue chemical injections? The law is silent on that, saying only that the offender “shall continue receiving treatment until the court determines the treatment is no longer necessary.” So, in the sole discretion of a judge who has to get elected in Alabama, a smoker with a history of blood clots — both of which make chemical castration more dangerous — can be required to continue hormone treatment indefinitely.
But don’t worry, because a medical professional the court will inform the offender of the risks and get a receipt for his or her informed consent. And that is not even a joke.
The ACLU maintains that chemical castration violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, although several states do have laws requiring it for certain classes of repeat sex offenders. These laws are rarely applied, though, with only a handful of parolees each year undergoing chemical castration.
Judges and probation officers generally ignore these mandatory castration laws because they are STUPID. Just like mandatory minimums, and three-strikes laws, and every other statute that exists solely as a vehicle for lawmakers to tell their constituents how very much they hate bad guys.
Right Rep. Hurst?
I’d prefer it be surgical, because the way I look at it, if they’re going to mark these children for life, they need to be marked for life. My preference would be, if someone does a small infant child like that, they need to die. God’s going to deal with them one day.
Very cogent commentary by the good representative to the local Fox affiliate — the man does get around. Were you wondering if Hurst supported Roy Moore’s senate campaign last year? Of course he did!
The bill goes to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk now, where she can either sign it or get slammed for siding with child rapists. Sweet home Alabama!
AL HB379 [ALISON]
Alabama considers chemical castration for child molesters [CBS42]
Chemical castration bill awaiting Ala. governor’s signature [WAFB]
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.