A bill proposed to Alabama lawmakers for the last 10 years would require surgical castration for certain sex offenders. One politician is renewing his efforts to get the bill passed.
Rep. Steve Hurst is launching a new bid to push the controversial bill through the Alabama state legislature. Over the last 10 years, Hurst has tried multiple times to pass the bill, but it has always failed.
If the bill were passed, sex offenders (both male and female) who are convicted of certain sex crimes against children 12 and younger would be forced to undergo surgical castration.
It would not be the first castration law in the U.S.; several states have castration laws. Most have chemical castration laws that require sex offenders to take medication that reduces testosterone levels. Some give offenders the option of having testicles removed. The Alabama legislation is seen as particularly severe since it would force physical castration on offenders.
According to Hurst, he believes the punishment would fit the crime because the child is marked for life. He also hopes that such a harsh law would act as a deterrent to sex crimes involving pedophilia.
“I had people call me in the past when I introduced it and said don’t you think this is inhumane?” said Hurst. “I asked them what’s more inhumane than when you take a little infant child, and you sexually molest that infant child when the child cannot defend themselves or get away, and they have to go through all the things they have to go through?”
Hurst added, “If you want to talk about inhumane–that’s inhumane.”
Some people think legalized physical mutation is a bit extreme. But for years, many people have suggested that, when it comes to rapists, they should ‘cut it off.’
Some victims might even hope that they’re the ones who get to wield the knife.
