Alabama is continuing its ascension to the weirdest state in the country, coming in a close second to Florida, as the governor signed legislation Monday that would require some sex offenders to be chemically castrated before parole.
According to the Associated Press, Gov. Kay Ivey—the same governor that signed a near total abortion ban into law—has signed the bill, ordering that pedophiles convicted of certain crimes on children younger than 13 be injected with medication that blocks testosterone production, also known as chemical castration.
Under the new law, those offenders must receive the medication before they are paroled and continue taking the medication until a judge orders them to stop. Should the parolee stop taking the medication on his own, he could be sent back to jail.
AP notes that several states have the law on their books, but it’s unclear how the law has, or if it has ever been, used. AL.com notes that the “castration” is reversible once the person stops taking the medication.
Some legal groups have balked at the idea of forced medication. AP notes that Republican Rep. Steve Hurst had proposed the measure for more than a decade.
DISCUSSION
“Reversible” is the right way of putting it, scare quotes and all. Realistically, it may be reversible, but maybe not, and also it can have side effects like feminization of the body, including breast tissue growth.
This is policy driven by optics, not by actual research, and it’s no less barbaric now than it was when Alan Turing (who cracked the Enigma Code and may have single-handedly turned WWII in the Allies’ favor) was chemically castrated in the 50's for being a gay man. A punishment I’m sure that some in America would like to reinstate.