Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

( L - R ) Grange, Nicholson and Hay-webster

Should repeat sex offenders be offered the option of voluntary chemical castration to eliminate or drastically reduce their unwhole-some urge?

Sharon Hay-Webster, the Member of Parliament for South Central St. Catherine, believes this option should be explored where all other therapies fail.

The matter was raised during last week's Joint Select Committee consi-dering amendments to the Incest (Punish-ment) Act and the Offences Against the Person Act, specifi-cally in regard to sexual offences.

"If you could do the castration and the person can thereby stop victimis-ing more persons and the person has a role in society from there on and you don't have to have more persons being guests of the state, why don't we consider it?" asked Mrs. Hay-Webster.

Awful responsibility

Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, another Member of Parliament, and committee member, told her colleagues that together they had "an awful responsibility", which they should take seriously in giving thought to this option.

Dr. Judith Leiba, acting director, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Ministry of Health, who had raised the issue ,told the committee that the usual approach to treating a sexual offence perpetrator required a thorough psychiatric evaluation.

She also said follow-up management depending on the findings of the evaluation, would be necessary.

Not enough

However, according to Dr. Leiba, many sex offenders do not respond readily to such therapy. While not making a recommendation on the matter, she told the committee that in the most extreme cases, such affected persons may opt for chemical castration in order to control what are otherwise uncontrollable impulses.

Attorney-General A.J Nicholson, who chairs the committee, recoiled in seeming horror at the prospect of chemical intervention in such a sensitive aspect of human physiology. He quickly intervened to stress that the Government had no intention of forcing any citizen to submit to this treatment.

Sharon Hay-Webster's strong position on the matter might have been influenced in part by an incident in her South Central St. Catherine constituency, which she related to the committee two weeks earlier.

A repeat sex offender was killed, having been warned earlier by community leaders to discontinue this practice. Ignoring the warning, the man reportedly attempted to rape a woman shortly afterwards and was caught and paid with his life.

Nationally, there were 708 cases of rape and 434 incidents of carnal abuse reported to the police last year.

Chemical castration is sanctioned by law in some foreign jurisdictions. In 1997, the Florida Legislature, by a large majority, enacted such a law. It allowed court-ordered weekly injections of a sex-drive-reducing hormone to qualified repeat sex offenders upon release from prison.

Chemical castration is not to be confused with ordinary castration in which the testicles of a man are removed. Historically, this was done as a form of punishment or for religious and bureaucratic reasons.

History of castration

Throughout history, castration has been used to punish sex offenders. By the late 1900s, most castration sentences were disallowed on appeal, and a relieved public lauded itself for living in more enlightened times.

Child molesters, rapists, and other sex offenders are perceived as among the most vile members of society. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Legislature revived an ancient method of turning these condemned men into eunuchs. This time, however, the lawmakers advocated the use of drugs, to accomplish their objective.

While medical advances have made chemical suppression of the sex drive possible as a treatment for some sex offenders, the procedure is not free from criticism by medical, psychological, and psychiatric professionals.

Moreover, some, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), believe that court-ordered, mandatory chemical castration is unconstitutional.

Victims' Charter takes shape

After months of public consultations, a draft of the proposed Victims' Charter has been prepared and should soon be placed in proper legislative form for parliamentary approval.

Details of the draft charter were shared by Canute Brown, director of justice reform in the Ministry of Justice, with members of a Joint Select Committee of Parliament, on Wednesday.

Among other things, the draft charter provides that the courts must take account of Victim Impact Statements when sentencing offenders, hearing about any physical or emotional harm suffered, as well as any loss of or damage to property.

The authorities will also be required to seek and take into account the views of the victim of a sexual offence when contemplating granting bail or releasing the accused.

Similarly, provisions are to be made so that victims of crimes are allowed to attend parole hearings and express opinions as to whether their victimisers should be granted early release. It is recommended as well that, if a convict escapes from prison, his victim must be notified as soon as possible of this development and steps taken to protect the victim.

A primary provision in the draft is that a victim or a member of a victim's immediate family who has welfare, counselling, medical or legal needs arising from the offence "shall have access to services that are responsive to those needs".

Court procedures

In keeping with this commitment, the Court Services Unit will be required to ensure that victims are familiarised with court procedures and conduct in court, and victims who attend court will have access to secure and separate facilities whilst waiting for their cases to be heard.

In order to avoid further trauma to victims of crime, the draft charter proposes that a 'witness on call' system be used to ensure that victims attend court only when they are specifically needed instead of waiting around in the court unnecessarily.

All victims of a crime are to be identified by investigators and placed on a victims' list as soon as possible after the crime has been committed so that they can benefit from the services available. In that regard, the Government is required, under the charter, to establish shelters for victims of crime at suitable locations, taking into consideration gender, age, and access to social and medical services.

These and other proposals, Mr. Brown said, were largely influenced by suggestions and experiences shared by members of the public at consultations held across the island in the latter half of last year.

Justice Minister, A.J Nicholson, promised members of the joint select committee last Wednesday, that action will be taken to have these provisions enshrined in law in the near future.

At a media briefing on July 18, last year, Senator Nicholson promised that the charter would "correct the imbalances, whether perceived or real, between the protection of the rights of offenders and the human rights of victims".

This, he affirmed, was in keeping with Jamaica's commitments under the 1985 United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.

- E.M.