Chemical Castration: How a Medical Therapy Became Punishment and the Bioethical Imperative to Return to a Rehabilitative Model for Sex Offenders

Chemical castration is a colloquial term used to refer to the treatment of certain sex offenders with antiandrogenic drugs in order to reduce recidivism. The use of this treatment began in the United States in 1966, at which time the nation favored a rehabilitative approach to criminal justice. In its first thirty years of use, chemical castration proved effective at reducing recidivism rates among one subset of offenders, paraphiliacs, by about fifty percent.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Vaillancourt, Samantha Pandick

• Bioethics

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37658

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37658