wbpesch@ihuxp.UUCP (Walt Pesch) (03/24/84)
Well, this is a certainly disgusting idea, but I do believe that Texas
does have a reasonably good way of discouraging rape in the Chemical
Castration of rapists. Yes, I know that is a disgusting idea, but rape
is a disgusting crime. I think that would stop the sane in an awful lot of
the cases. Though I doubt that this would do any good for the insane.
Historical background: I have heard on the news several times when
Texas judges have offered the condemmed either prison or chemical
castration.
Interesting side quote from Chairman Mao (paraphrased):
"There is no such thing as rape for a woman with her skirt up runs
faster than a man with his pants down." (raise heat shields.)
Walt Pesch
AT&T Technologies
ihnp4!ihuxp!wbpeschbae@fisher.UUCP (The Master of Sinanju) (03/24/84)
I would think it more appropriate to just kill the b*st*rds.
--
Brian A. Ehrmantraut
Ad Maioram Gloriam Hasturi!
{ihnp4, decvax, ucbvax}!allegra!fisher!baecmgiuliani@watrose.UUCP (cmgiuliani) (03/24/84)
WHOA!
Slow down on castration as punishment for rape! Stop and figure out what
the purpose(s) of punishment are. Deterrence and Retribution.
Re: Deterrence. Does castration (chemical or otherwise) cause the subject
to lose interest in sex, or just fertility??? Anybody out there know??
If just fertility, it seems like a lousy deterrent or retribution.
Actually, now that I think about it, deterrence and retribution are the same,
since our main deterrent is the threat of retribution.
But there is another purpose to punishment. To make sure it does not happen
again. Since rape is an act of violence more often than an act of pure lust,
the guilty party may continue to assault women (and maybe not women only),
even if it is not actual rape (i.e. penetration).
For all you Americans, I thought I might mention that, in Canada, the law now
no longer refers to "rape", but to "sexual assault." Rape is only one form of
sexual assault.
Carlo, @ the U of Waterloopaul@uiucuxc.UUCP (03/27/84)
#R:ihuxp:-68800:uiucuxc:22800019:000:333
uiucuxc!paul Mar 26 20:12:00 1984
Re: Making rape a capital offense
Problem is the perpetrator has even more reason to kill the victim (which
happens all too often now) to avoid identification.
Paul Pomes
uucp: {decvax,ihnp4,pur-ee,ucbvax}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!paul
US Mail: Paul Pomes, University of Illinois
1304 W Springfield, Urbana, IL 61801alle@ihuxb.UUCP (Allen England) (03/28/84)
Castration (chemical or otherwise) will cause the subject to lose interest in sex and also lose interest in raping someone. Some rapists have been shown to have an excess amount of a particular male hormone which is believed to lead to the violent behavior. Castrating the person will stop the production of most male hormones. Since the sex drive is determined by the presence of these hormones, that will also stop. As a side issue, about a year and a half ago, there was a well publicized rape case in W. Germany. The rapist had been castrated (I believe it was surgical - not chemical). Some number of years after the castration, he was given male hormones. Shortly after this, he raped a little girl (around 10 yrs old, I think) and then murdered her. What made the case famous was that during the pre-trial hearing, the mother of the little girl shot and killed the man. End of case. (Incidentally, the mother got off with probation). Allen ihnp4!ihuxb!alle
kim@emory.UUCP (Kim Wallen {Psychology}) (03/28/84)
There has been some discussion of the effectiveness of castrated (surgical or chemical) as a 'treatment' for rape. The actual evidence of the effectiveness of these treatments is really rather unconvincing. Heim published a study in Archives of Sexual Behavior (1981) which studied 39 males castrated for sex crimes. 30% of the males continued to have sexual intercourse 4 years after castration. Most interestingly 75% of the rapists continued to have intercourse. In the chemical castration studies the data are usually not very reliable. Often a condition for parole is that the offender continue to take the drog and report to the parole officer his lack of sexual interest, not the conditions where one gets disinterested responses. There does seem to be some evidence that the rate of recidivism is much lower following these treatments so they may have some effect. However the notion that male sexual behavior is radically changed following castration is still poorly supported and needs much more research before we depend upon hormonal therapies as rape treatment. I am more in favor of discovering why some men develop such antagonism to women that they depend upon violence and degradation to become sexually aroused. !emory!emoryu1!psykw Kim Wallen Psychology Dept. Emory University Atlanta, Ga
ariels@mako.UUCP (Ariel Shattan) (03/28/84)
Allen England says: >Castration (chemical or otherwise) will cause the subject to lose interest >in sex and also lose interest in raping someone. Wrongo! Rape is a crime of violence, not of sex. It is a crime where the purpose is to dominate the victim. There are rapes of men by men. In prison these are used to establish "pecking orders". There are rapes of women by women, using foreign objects. More power plays. If you castrate a rapist, he will only have to find some other way of venting his anger. >Some rapists have been shown to have an excess amount of a particular >male hormone which is believed to lead to the violent behavior. >Castrating the person will stop the production of most male hormones. >Since the sex drive is determined by the presence of these hormones, >that will also stop. OK. I'll go along with that, but only to the point of SOME rapists. Also, realize that if you accept this explanation of rape, you must also accept that some women have hormonal imbalances when they are pre-menstrual that cause violent behaviour, and that drug therapy instead of incarceration for these women is just as valid as chemical castration instead of incarceration is for those men. Ariel Shattan ..!tektronix!orca!ariels
cmgiuliani@watrose.UUCP (cmgiuliani) (03/30/84)
Let repeat my question about castration as a punishment for rape. What is
the purpose?? Is it to prevent further rape by the offender, or as just
a punishment for the sake of punishment???
If castration is proposed to reduce the likelihood of repeat offences, and
if rape is an act of violence rather than sex, maybe castrated offenders
will just beat people up (women and/or others) instead of raping them.
I don't consider that to be much of a solution.
Surely even if castration reduces the sex drive, it does not reduce the
urge to violence? (Actually, I must note here that there has been one
article suggesting that the general reduction in many hormones may indeed
reduce violent tendencies.. in that case I would recommend castration for
*all* violent crimes ... but what about violent female offenders??)
Carlo @ the U of Waterlooandrew@inmet.UUCP (03/31/84)
#R:ihuxp:-68800:inmet:10900066:000:302
inmet!andrew Mar 29 11:11:00 1984
Re: Making rape a capital offense
The US Supreme Court decided several years ago that the death penalty
could not be imposed for a crime in which the victim was not killed.
I believe it was a state rape law that they overturned.
Andrew W. Rogers, Intermetrics ...{harpo|ima|esquire}!inmet!andrewalle@ihuxb.UUCP (Allen England) (04/03/84)
+ >>Allen England says: >>Castration (chemical or otherwise) will cause the subject to lose interest >>in sex and also lose interest in raping someone. >Wrongo! Rape is a crime of violence, not of sex. It is a crime >where the purpose is to dominate the victim. There are rapes of men >by men. In prison these are used to establish "pecking orders". >There are rapes of women by women, using foreign objects. More >power plays. If you castrate a rapist, he will only have to find >some other way of venting his anger. >Ariel Shattan >..!tektronix!orca!ariels I didn't make it clear, but you missed my point. Castration will reduce the tendency to commit violence, in addition to reducing the desire for sex. If you think that rape has *nothing* to do with sex, then you are not living in the real world. Allen ihnp4!ihuxb!alle