By EFE
02 Aug 2024, 07:47 AM EDT
Miami – A law in the state of Louisiana in the southeastern United States that allows a judge to impose surgical castration on convicted pedophiles came into effect on Thursday for the first time in the country’s history.
Like California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Alabama, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin, among others that have similar chemical castration measures, Louisiana is, however, the first state to give judges the discretion to sentence an inmate convicted of aggravated sexual offenses against a child under 13 to surgical castration.
“At the end of the day, I hope that children know that they can feel safer because there will be really harsh penalties that will be applied when someone violates their innocence,” said the author of the bill, Democratic Senator Regina Barrow, reported today by the WAFB9 channel.
There are, however, some circumstances in which a convicted person might not qualify for the procedure, which would be up to the judge and a doctor from the State Department of Corrections.
Chemical castration uses drugs that block testosterone production to decrease sexual desire, while surgical castration is a much more invasive procedure that involves the removal of both testicles.
Senator Barrow says she ultimately hopes that at the very least this new law will act as a “deterrent to would-be child rapists.”
A dozen states in the US provide for chemical castration for pedophiles or others convicted of sexual crimes.
California was the first state to approve chemical castration for pedophiles with certain sexual offenses involving children 13 or younger, such as rape or sodomy, in 1996.
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Man to be castrated and sentenced to prison in Louisiana for raping and impregnating a minor