Louisiana lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would expand judges’ powers to sentence people convicted of certain sex crimes against children to physical castration, the Washington Post reports. If it is signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, the bill would allow judges to order a surgical castration in cases involving victims under age 13. The procedure is more invasive than the chemical methods outlined in a 2008 law — chemical castrations involve the administration of hormonal drugs that lower sexual performance and libido, while surgical or physical castrations involve removing testes or ovaries to stop the production of sex hormones. Chemical castrations, unlike physical methods, are generally impermanent and are already allowed in Louisiana for sexual crimes against children such as rape, sexual battery and molestation.
“We have a responsibility and a duty as it relates to the most vulnerable among us … I don’t feel that our kids are safe,” state Sen. Regina Ashford Barrow (D), the bill’s sponsor, said during a hearing last month. She said that she is concerned about “repeat offenders” and emphasized that victims’ lives are “changed forever” by sexual violence. But critics of the bill raised concerns regarding its effectiveness, whether or not it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, and the fact that Louisiana has a long history of wrongful convictions. “Our concern is that we are going into the physical realm of mutilating somebody’s body, and it’s a slippery slope about what is cruel and unusual punishment,” Bruce Reilly, a community organizer who advocates for formerly incarcerated people told the legislature. “There’s no conclusive proof that castration actually eliminates that problem in someone’s mind,” he added