Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Chemical castration does not actually castrate the person, nor is it a form of sterilization

Chemical castration involves the administration of anti androgen drugs, or the birth-control drug, which is given as an injection every one to three months, making compliance easier to track the offender.

• Chemical castration entails administration of medication designed to reduce libido and sexual activity, usually in the hope of preventing rapist/child molester and other sex offenders from repeating their crimes as on voluntary basis as a more humane approach of punishment.
• The word ‘chemical castration’ has been called a misnomer because it is not like the surgical castration, where the testes or ovaries are removed through an incision in the body.
• Chemical castration does not actually castrate the person, nor is it a form of sterilization. When used on men, these drugs can reduce sex drive, compulsive sexual fantasies, and capacity for sexual arousal. It is generally reversible when treatment is discontinued, except for some effects in body chemistry, such as loss of bone density and osteoporosis.
• It is still an ethical dilemma to practice chemical castration as punishment and whether it could be done without informed consent or not.
• However, some countries like US and UK consider chemical castration as a humane alternative to life-long imprisonment or surgical castration, the drug cyproterone acetate is used for chemical castration in Europe which considered as safe drug for health.
• Argentina approved a new law in 2010, which rules the use of chemical castration for rapists, but they must voluntarily undergo it.

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