Council Urges Germany To Ditch Castration Practices

Sex offenders in Germany can often have their prison terms reduced by volunteering to be surgically castrated but now an anti-torture committee is urging officials in the country to stop the practice.

The panel that wants the practice stopped was formed by the Strasbourg Council, Europe’s top human rights watchdog group. According to the group the practice of castration is “degrading” and they insist that there is no proof that the practice actually helps stop men from committing further sexual crimes.

The practice of surgical castration in Germany is only available as an option to men older than 25 and even then the procedure is extremely rare. In fact the last 10 years has experienced only five such procedures. In order to be considered for surgical castration the procedure must be requested by an inmate and then a panel of experts must weigh all available options and offer approval.

Officials in Germany have decided at the panels urging to place the practice of castration under review. Officials believe there is still medical grounds for offering the procedure.

Whether the Czech Republic will also place the practice under review is not yet known.

Germany could choose to move towards the less invasive chemical procedure which stops the creation of testosterone. Chemical castration is a mandatory treatment for offenders in Poland and some states in the United States.

Do you think Germany should ban the surgical castration option and instead move towards chemical castration or should sex offending prisoners still be given the surgical option?

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