The bill was first introduced in 2008 in response to a
high-profile case in which a 58-year-old man raped and assaulted an
8-year-old girl. The attack caused widespread revulsion and left
the victim with lasting physical injuries.
Government policies, including the installation of more security
personnel near school grounds as well as multiple surveillance
cameras, have not prevented a series of similar cases.
A 33-year-old man who raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl in
February was sentenced to death last week. In another high-profile
case, a 45-year-old man allegedly kidnapped a student from her
elementary school and raped her in the basement of a church.
South Korean legislators at the National Assembly passed the
bill by a vote of 137-13. More than 140 lawmakers either did not
make a choice or did not vote. The legislation would take effect a
year after being signed into law.
The legislation, which requires the South Korean president's
signature to become law, would allow judges to sentence adult sex
offenders who victimize minors under 16 and have been diagnosed as
sexual deviants to chemical castration.
It was unclear if President Lee Myung-bak would sign it. He is
on a visit to Latin America and his office would not comment.
The procedure involves the administration of
testosterone-suppressing hormones intended to curb sexual drive.
Offenders would also receive behavioral and psychological
therapies.
Dr. Howard Zonana, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School
of Medicine, said questions remain on such treatment.
"It's hard to say with a degree of exactitude on the
effectiveness of chemical castration," Zonana said.
He said that for it to be effective, it must first be determined
whether offenders are pedophiliacs, who have a strong attraction to
children, or non-sexual deviants possessing other underlying
psychiatric disorders that cause them to act violently.
If signed into law, South Korea would become the first country
in Asia to legalize chemical castration, according to Yoo Jin-hee,
an aide to Park Young-sun, a member of the assembly's Legislation
and Judiciary Committee.
In the United States, several states including Louisiana,
California, Oregon and Arizona have laws allowing chemical
castration. In Europe, countries including Britain, Denmark and
Sweden offer chemical castration drugs to sex offenders to control
sexual urges on a voluntary basis. Last year, Poland legalized the
procedure for offenders who rape minors under age 15 or close
relatives. It is administered on court order.
The measure is just one of a long line that South Korea has
turned to after a spate of assaults. Parents formed monitoring
groups to escort their children to and from schools. The government
enforced the wearing of electronic ankle bracelets to monitor the
movements of sex offenders and endorsed disclosing their identities
to the public. The city council in the southern port city of Busan
offered 5,000 whistles to children to blow for help.
Some critics of the procedure have argued that while it may stop
sex crimes, it doesn't necessarily prevent other violent crimes.
Civil liberties advocates have also called the procedure barbaric,
and some papers in South Korea raised ethical concerns. But many
supported the move.
"It's meaningless and useless to debate whether chemical
castration by nature violates basic human rights," the Hankook Ilbo
newspaper wrote in an editorial on its website after the
legislation passed, saying that it cannot compare to the suffering
of victims.
David Benjamin, a Ph.D who is a clinical pharmacologist and
forensic toxicologist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in
Boston, said hindering physically arousal may not deter mental
arousal.
"Arousal is in the brain," he said. "It transfers to a bodily
function when you become aroused, but I don't know whether there
has been enough scientific research to prove that hindering a
bodily function can keep you from being aroused."
http://www.mail.com/intl/article.aspx/science/0/apnews/science/20100629/u_as-skorea-chemical-castration?pageid=2&pCurr=1&pNext=2
Singapore also mah, if any guy wants to rape me, i will also
castrate him, my bag got police whistle issue by police, mist spray
which i bought in KL and also a sharp swiss knife for castrating
purpose.
