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Doctors question merits of chemical castration

"The side effect [of chemical castration] is that the person will begin to develop female sex attributes."

Chang Ke-fu, urologist at Yin Shu-tien Memorial Hospital

PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei's (沈智慧) proposal to chemically castrate rapists last Wednesday has resulted in more discussion of the issue.

Chemical castration temporarily reduces sexual desire through chemicals that can be injected or taken orally. Shen's proposal is to permanently castrate the rapists.

In addition, Shen has also proposed making rapists' names public in an equivalent to Megan's Law in the US.

Megan's Law was named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a paroled sex offender who had moved into her neighborhood. The legislation makes the identities and whereabouts of convicted sex offenders public after their release from prison.

According to Shen, chemical castration is currently used for rapists in Australia, Denmark and Germany. But local doctors say chemical castration will damage a person's health and may not be the best solution.

"To chemically castrate someone, usually we inject female hormones into the person or ask him to take female hormone pills. The side effect is that the person will begin to develop female sex attributes. For example, his breasts will begin to grow," Yin Shu-tien Memorial Hospital urologist Chang Ke-fu (張克孚) explained. "But chemical castration will not be able to cure a rapist's mental problems."

In the meantime, Chen Chiao-chi (陳喬琪), psychology department director at the Taipei City Psychiatric Center, agreed with the legislator's proposal to make rapists' names public.

Chen said there is no 100-percent guarantee that a rapist can be completed "cured."

As a result, he said, making their names public so the public can be aware of them is an effective prevention measure, even if it's still controversial in regards to human rights.

Hsu Wen-de (許文德), a gynecologist and senior counselor at the National Health Research Institute, said in an article that was published on LawTW.com that he didn't think chemical castration can solve the problem.

He said that chemical castration can only be regarded as a "physical cure." But if rapists are just "physically cured" and made unable to become erect without being "mentally cured", it is still quite possible for these rapists to sexually attack women again, he said.

"Chemical castration can only temporarily control rapists. Once the medical treatment is stopped, the patients are likely to rape women again. It's not a permanent solution," Hsu said in the article.

In his article, Hsu recommended the US program called the "Vermont Treatment Program for Sexual Aggressors."

According to Hsu, the program was first named after the state of Vermont because it was first carried out there in 1982. Under the program, rapists are regarded as "sex addicts" and are forced to join a rehabilitation program.

During the program, social workers and psychologists will find out exactly why rapists want to sexually assault women. They then teach these rapists how to face the temptation to and how to control themselves.

When the rehabilitation program is done, these rapists will have learned how to keep themselves from committing crimes again.

DPP Lawmaker Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津), who endorsed Shen's proposal, argues that a strict standard should be defined before applying chemical castration.

"Chemical castration should not be carried out for all rapists," Yeh said. "Personally, I think that chemical castration should only be used for those rapists who cannot control themselves or beat the temptation to rape women."

Yeh's reasoning is that these people know it's not right to rape women but they just can't control themselves. Yeh thinks, basically, they're physically sick, but mentally okay. As a result, these rapists should be the priority when it comes to chemical castration.

"Of course, those who are eligible for chemical castration should be evaluated by experts first," she added.

In the meantime, Yeh emphasized that counseling should be the top priority for rapists after they are put behind bars.

Yeh's remarks were echoed by The Good Shepherd Sisters Social Welfare Service Foundation president, Sister Tang Jing-lien (湯靜蓮). Tang believes that the lack of family education is the main problem and should be the priority.

Tang says that authorities should teach rapists how to improve communication, how to respect others and how to love other people instead of simply chemically castrating them.

"[Rapists] don't know how to respect women and how to love other people, because nobody told them how," Tang said.

"Obviously, these people's family education was a failure and their communication with society shut down. Maybe a lot of people look at them as though they are freaks. No wonder these people are violent."
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