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Germany told to stop sex offender castration
Published: 22 Feb 12 09:36 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120222-40895.html
The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee on Wednesday urged Germany to abolish the surgical castration of sex offenders, warning that the operation could amount to "degrading treatment."
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The practice is rare, noted the committee after a visit to Germany in 2010, with less than five cases a year in the last decade.
"Notwithstanding this, the CPT must express its fundamental objections to the use of surgical castration as a means of treatment of sexual offenders," it said.
"Surgical castration is a mutilating, irreversible intervention and cannot be considered as a medical necessity in the context of the treatment of sexual offenders."
"In the CPT's view, surgical castration of detained sexual offenders could easily be considered as amounting to degrading treatment," it added.
According to the report, authorities in Germany cited the low reoffending rate for those who have opted for physical castration in their defence of the practice.
Of 104 people who were operated on between 1970 and 80, only 3 percent have reoffended, compared to 46 percent of the 53 others who refused castration or who did not secure expert approval for the operation.
Nevertheless, Berlin agreed to "examine if the issue should be discussed." Besides Germany, the Czech Republic is the only other of the 47 Council of Europe member states which gives sex offenders the option of physical castration.
AFP/mdm
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Your comments about this article:
There really is no treatment that is full proof for sex offenders or for any offender for that matter.
but 3% is a much better number than 46%.
I say, keep the penalty. castrate those who deserve it. Its not enforced on every offender anyway.
The rest of europe should probably stop criticising Germany, its one of the few countries left with functioning social systems.
and rape isn't?
>and rape isn't?
Yes, rape is truly barbaric. But even more so is your apparent "an eye for an eye" attitude.
Exactly.
It's not a punishment. Sex offenders are given the option of being castrated and can refuse it.
I kinda hate being the one to bring it up --
but do you know who also routinely surgically castrated people?
The Nazis in their concentration camps.
There is a reason (and this is mainly it, historically) why surgical castration is almost entirely illegal in present-day Germany. It is inhumane and a gross violation of the most fundamental human rights. Yes, so is rape, no doubt about it. But rape already carries potentially long prison sentences for atonement, and two wrongs don't make a right.
And boopsie is right, we have no right to point fingers at seemingly barbaric legal traditions in Muslim countries, where adulterers are stoned to death or common thieves get their hand chopped off, if we consider surgical castration, voluntary or not, a legitimate legal remedy.
If you notice "this country" is doing it .
This country is Germany, and this e-paper is written in Germany.
Yes, I know that the Nazis sterilized people they judged unfit for procreating the master race.
The sex offenders opt for it in the hope it will reduce their sex drive. It is not done to punish them.
You say it is almost entirely illegal in Germany but it doesn't infer that in the article.
You actually think that castating someone for buggering little children is the same as a woman being stoned to death on a trumped up adultery charge?
To answer your question, yes.
If someone abuses children they should pay a very high price but society must draw the line at mutilation which is what castration is, no matter how professionally and non invasively it is done. Actual bodily harm should be off limits to the state, no matter what the offense.
A attack like this can permanently damage a child for life, but hey its okay poor sex offender dog he deserves kindness, I don't like saying this but people that even support grace for a offender deserves it when that grace comes visit there children.
The offenders rights do not justify a lifetime of misery for the victims (both those harmed and future victims). There is no question that some must forfeit for the good of all. I wish this were not so but it is the reality we must face.
The British were castrating people for homosexuality long after the nazis. Alan Turing commited suicide because of it
Mr Turing was not surgically castrated:
"Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. He accepted chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections." (Wikipedia)
I agree with those that find this method unworthy of Nations that tout Human rights as a priority and judge other Nations based on them.
IF IT WORKS EMBRACE IT..!!!
WELL DONE GERMANY!!! keep the high standards and do not worry about the resto of the world
All it takes is one incident with a child, and then this child is scarred forever. I have lost my compassion when a man rapes a woman or a child.
Woman who are raped just don't walk away. They are messed up for the rest of their lives (some).
Men who rape against a womans will should not only be castrated (testicles removed) but they also need to have a penisectomy.(surgical removal of the penis.)
Lets show our compassion for the victims.
"All these people screaming its wrong never have been violated in such away"
And...? You do realize that that's not a compelling case for the continuation of the practice, right? A civilized justice system does not base its policies on the feelings of the victims (or the families of the victims.)
Some like to paint those who are opposed to such practices as being less empathic than others who do support things like castration and the death penalty - the "if you're child had been killed you'd want the murderer tortured and hung up by his toes" response. In reality, those who are opposed have just as much as empathy. They may even have those same thoughts of wanting to inflict terrible pain on the murderer/rapists - but they realize that those kinds of thoughts and feelings, while natural, aren't always the best basis for a legal system. It's not that they don't feel sorrow for the victim, nor is it that they think the offender doesn't deserve to be severely punished. They just have a different view of how the justice system should work.
Besides, I can guarantee you there are some people who have been raped (or are close to someone who has been) that don't support the castration of rapists, just as there are people who have had loved ones killed who don't support the death penalty. It doesn't mean they feel less deeply than others, but rather that they realize that "an eye for an eye" isn't always the best way to do things.