Well this is one form of deterrence: a lawmaker in Alabama has proposed a bill that would require sex offenders to undergo chemical castration — and foot the bill, too.
Pre-filed for the 2014 legislative session, the bill is sponsored by state Rep. Steve Hurst (R-Munford). If passed, any sexual offender over the age of 21 convicted of a sex act with a child under 12 would be required to undergo surgical castration prior to their release from prison, The Daily Caller reported.
“They would take his testicles out,” Hurst told The Daily Caller.
But the bill doesn’t stop there.
According to The Times Daily, the guilty offender would be required to pay for the procedure, too.
“We need to make a statement in Alabama that number 1, we are not going to tolerate this,” the Alabama lawmaker said. “Number 2, if it were to [keep] one child from being sexually molested, then it would be worth it.”
Hurst’s bill has been introduced a total of three times, but it failed to pass committee because lawmakers fear the law would be challenged and deemed unconstitutional, But, he said, the bill garners more and more support each time it’s introduced.
“What I’m saying is very simple, you can’t get in the door if you don’t keep knocking. And the other thing is, let’s test it in the federal court,” Hurst said. “The only way this is going to be tested in federal court is if the bill passes and somebody wants to file suit on it.”
But he doesn’t think the law goes far enough, and to dissenters, Hurst has one question: “Which is barbaric? To sexually molest a child as an infant, or is it barbaric or inhumane to castrate somebody who has done that?”
Chemical castrations aren’t non-existent either. According to a CNN report from 2012, more than nine states including California, Florida and Texas have some form of chemical castration on the books.
