Today’s young women are brought up, ingrained with a fear. A fear that they will go out for their morning jog, step onto a subway, or arrive at a party only to end up a victim. Sadly, this is not an unreasonable trepidation as the number of sexual predators in our society continues to rise. According to the National Registry of Sex Offenders, there are forty-seven currently living within my suburban zip code alone.

It is amazing to me how mercifully our justice system handles such heinous criminals, guilty of molestation, rape, incest, and other violent forms of sexual deviance. On average, those convicted are given a meager sentence of eight years, of which, only three or four are served due to parole release. Does this rehabilitate? According to a report by the Justice Department, we are releasing these criminals far too soon, putting them back on the streets when forty-three percent face new charges related to another sexual offense within three years. Sure. Some are given treatment; a “humane,” politically correct attempt to rehabilitate the unfortunate, diseased, and defective. A summer camp in comparison to what they deserve.

While some might give these attempts a “gold star,” the fact of the matter is that 13% of child molesters, 19% of rapists, and 12% of random sexual predators re-offend, according to a recent study by Grubin and Wingate of the University of Newcastle. How do three or four short years in jail make up for the damage done? Sexual assaults, predominantly rape and child molestation, result in severe psychological traumas for the victims, ensuing in the development of disorders such as Major Depressive, Post Traumatic Stress, Eating Disorders, Self Mutilation, and various Panic Disorders. The memories and shame do not go away.

Obviously, it can be concluded that what we are doing is not cutting it.
Cutting it. That’s what I’d like to see done. Physical castration greatly reduces the risk of repeat offense. A 1989 German study by Wille and Beier found that when sex offenders were castrated, the rate of re-offence was reduced to three percent; a drastic and encouraging difference.

Realistically, however, we live in a society where the liberal minded are experts at calling upon and twisting the eighth amendment to the US Constitution, which states that no crime can be punished in a cruel and unusual fashion. Although I strongly disagree that castration is “cruel and unusual” in these cases, there is a chemical alternative equally as effective and on the surface more “humane”. It is a treatment known as Chemical Castration, consisting of monthly injections of Depo-Provera, a common birth control chemical containing a synthetic version of the female hormone, progesterone. When introduced to the male system, Depo-Provera inhibits hormones that stimulate the production of testosterone. Studies have shown that this greatly reduced level of testosterone diminishes aggressive tendencies and eliminates the male sex drive, thusly, eradicating the abnormal behavior that leads to original sexual deviance. Economically speaking, Chemical Castration offers another perk. Compared to an average cost of $44 per day for a sex offender to rot in jail, Chemical Castration is $21 per treatment. The resultant savings is drastic, $15,808 per offender.

I realize this solution does not account for female offenders. It is in no way, a perfect solution, yet, I feel chemical castration is a step in the right direction; one away from political correctness and one towards effective action. One towards preventing a future in which our daughters will, without choice, grow up with a deep-seated fear even more prevalent than our own.

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