HOUSTON — Alabama lawmakers have passed legislation mandating chemical castration for some child sex offenders. The bill is awaiting Governor Kay Ivey’s signature.
Under the bill, the procedure would take place before offenders leave prison and would be mandatory for parole. If the offender stops undergoing the procedure, their parole would be revoked.
RELATED: Alabama bill would require child sex offenders be chemically castrated before leaving prison
Eight states already allow for chemical or surgical castration for sex offenders, including Texas.
The Alabama bill is called HB 379. Representative Steve Hurst (R-Calhoun County), introduced it.
“They should be marked for life,” Hurst said. “Maybe now we can do something to protect these children.”
The bill would apply to a child molester over 21 years old, convicted of sexually assaulting a child under 13. Before getting out of jail, the inmate would have to be chemically castrated via injection or oral medications and would continue the medications until a judge says to stop. Without the medications, the castration would reverse.
“We’re just trying to fix it to where some small child is not molested,” Hurst said.
The ACLU has come out against chemical and surgical castrations for inmates, considering it cruel and unusual punishment.
In 1997 Texas lawmakers passed a law regarding surgical castration for child sex offenders. But unlike Alabama’s bill, castration is voluntary and permanent.
In Texas, there are several guidelines that must be met before the state approves surgical castration including a mental evaluation.
It is against the law for a parole board to require castration.
Texas inmate David Wayne Jones, who pleaded guilty to molesting 40 children while working at a Dallas YMCA in the '90s, underwent surgical castration in the early 2000s. He was paroled soon after but is currently back in jail for violating parole, although the violations were not sexual in nature.
Doctors say castration of any kind does not mean a person cannot have sex, however, it decreases the desire to do so. Critics point to that as a reason it might not work along with the fact pedophilia is considered a mental disorder.
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