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[Il Palazzo]

Speaking of balls, I just learned one surefire way of distracting yourself from a sore knee is to get a kick in the nut from your toddler.

Not sure if advising against having a toddler, or recommending getting one. Or both?

[Mathel]

I am surprised it even made it into consideration in this age in USA.

Anyway from the wording "Fails to appear or refuses to undergo", it seems to me that it is instead of prison sentence. Failing to appear on account of being in prison, then having your prison sentence prolonged because of that sounds unfair. And if the prison guards are to bring you, then you can't fail to appear.

Which would also make sense for wronful conviction (so long as this is only a once-per-conviction deal). You can always refuse and serve your sentence instead of getting castrated.

What about repeat offenders though? You can't castrate somebody twice, so I hope they automatically get the prison sentence.

[hector13]

Speaking of balls, I just learned one surefire way of distracting yourself from a sore knee is to get a kick in the nut from your toddler.

Not sure if advising against having a toddler, or recommending getting one. Or both?

Both I think.

I would not accept being treated the way I am treated by the child from any other person in the world.

[Maximum Spin]

What about repeat offenders though? You can't castrate somebody twice, so I hope they automatically get the prison sentence.

Well, the idea is that castration, by relatively deadening the sex drive, should make repeat offense much less likely. There's some evidence that this has worked for life-disrupting fetishes in some cases, so it probably would apply here, speaking purely to the pragmatic question.

[heydude6]

Would you rather have your penis chopped off or serve 3-5 years in prison*? Child rapists in Louisiana may be faced with that choice in August.

*Presumably an extra 3-5 years....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If an offender “fails to appear or refuses to undergo” surgical castration after a judge orders the procedure, they could be hit with “failure to comply” charge and face an additional three to five years in prison, based on the bill’s language.

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-surgical-castration-sex-crime-offender-234cdd9da804382d90dec409756dc445

Hm, but what about the wrongly-convicted?

I can't believe people are actually going through with this. I remember this topic came up in an askReddit thread once, and I was frankly apalled by how many people supported it. Even the people who were against it only seemed to be so because they were concerned about wrongful convictions.

How about we oppose it because its barbaric? We didn't overthrow monarchs and add clauses forbidding "cruel and unusual punishment" to our constitutions just so we could return to a medieval system of justice. Why don't we bring back hangings and chopping off the hands of thieves? While we're on the topic of maiming thieves, maybe the punishment for tax evasion should be the removal of a single toe?

It is not the purpose of the justice system to fully make up for a crime. The murdered cannot be revived, and the raped cannot be untraumatized. Trying to pursue sadism in the name of peace and closure is self-defeating.

[nenjin]

It's framed as a choice, that's why it's allowed.

Would you rather.....

"Serve the statutory sentence or be slowly pulled apart by a machine over the course of two weeks, or however long you last."

I'm not saying I approve. It is barbaric. And it speaks to the mindset of the people that put it on the books. But it's a particularly spineless kind of political theater.

[Maximum Spin]

It is not the purpose of the justice system to fully make up for a crime. The murdered cannot be revived, and the raped cannot be untraumatized. Trying to pursue sadism in the name of peace and closure is self-defeating.

Well, nobody thinks that and that isn't the intention anyway. Most people consider the purpose of the criminal justice system to be to reduce crime, in two ways - by removing people who commit crimes from society so they cannot commit further crimes, and by discouraging others from committing crimes because they in turn do not want to be punished.

What do you view as the purpose of the criminal justice system?

[heydude6]

Same as yours, stopping and deterring criminals. I brought up peace and closure because I see other people value it. I remember hearing someone defend the death penalty by saying that a murder victim’s family can only obtain peace and closure by having the perpetrator die as well. I oppose this argument, but I presume the pro-castration argument works on similar lines.

I don’t see how castration furthers the two-goals you mentioned. Increasing the severity of a punishment provides diminishing returns when it comes to increasing deterrence because most criminals operate on the presumption that they won’t get caught.

[Maximum Spin]

Same as yours, stopping and deterring criminals. I brought up peace and closure because I see other people value it. I remember hearing someone defend the death penalty by saying that a murder victim’s family can only obtain peace and closure by having the perpetrator die as well. I oppose this argument, but I presume the pro-castration argument works on similar lines.

I don’t see how castration furthers the two-goals you mentioned. Increasing the severity of a punishment provides diminishing returns when it comes to increasing deterrence because most criminals operate on the presumption that they won’t get caught.

Then you've simply misunderstood the intent. They're expecting that castrating child molesters will stop them from child molesting, which is probably true.

[Grim Portent]

I'm rather dubious it would have much effect on them.

I'm no expert on the psychology behind such things, but the general impression I've gotten is that most instances of rape, child or otherwise, are more to do with satisfying psychological issues by exerting power over another person rather than satisfying the desire for sexual gratification. If all someone wants is sex, there are more convenient ways than rape. Not being able to get it up hasn't stopped more than a few serial rapists, they just use other things to penetrate the victim.

[Eric Blank]

I have the same concern. Mutilating prisoners isn't going to prevent repeat offenders. If anything I worry they might become angrier and more violent if they can't get off.

A lot of times people don't see punishments brought on them for their transgressions as just punishments, but as unjust attacks against them. Any additional punishments might fuel more anger, and they will take that out on their victims. Longer sentences with less chances for parole might keep that kind of anger-driven person off the streets, but hurting them and still offering parole will just let them take that out on others sooner and harder.

[lemon10]

Surgical castration reportedly produces definitive results, even in repeat pedophilic offenders, by reducing recidivism rates to 2% to 5% compared with expected rates of 50%. Chemical castration using LHRH agonists reduces circulating testosterone to very low levels, and also results in very low levels of recidivism despite the strong psychological factors that contribute to sexual offending (10).

The numbers look pretty clear though; it works really well.
On one hand it feels like very cruel and unusual punishment, on the other hand going from a 50% -> 5% is such a massive change that I have a hard time disagreeing with it

[Maximum Spin]

Yeah, there's very clear evidence that child molesters are not motivated by anger or power or anything like that, but, in the overwhelming majority of cases, report roughly the same experience as any other compulsive sexual fetish - being increasingly occupied by thoughts of sexual gratification from the target. Castration has been found to be highly effective at eliminating compulsive sexual fetishes and there are even cases of men voluntarily requesting it to save their marriages/families, apparently successfully.

[Akura]

Plumbing's fucked again. And of course, I'm being blamed because I happen to use toilet paper. Nevermind I've been using that same kind of toilet paper for around a year now without problem, and the problem might be fixable with either a drain cleaner or maybe a mix of vinegar and baking soda, assuming it is a clog. Back to the chamber pot again, which by the way, made my colitis flare up after last time.

[dragdeler]

I mean what? Unless you have some japanese future toilet that can also do your taxes and roll your cigarettes, no paper is quite the challenge.