'Chemical castration' planned for paedophiles

JAMES SLACK and DANIEL BATES
UK Daily Mail
Wednesday June 13, 2007

Paedophiles are to be offered 'chemical castration' to stop them re-offending, John Reid will announce today.

The sex offenders will be given injections of drugs to curb their urges to assault young children.

The controversial suggestion has emerged from the debris of the child sex offenders review ordered by the Home Secretary within weeks of taking office last summer.

Promised rights for parents to ask if convicted paedophiles are living nearby - known as Sarah's Law - have been abandoned after the Home Office was warned it might drive offenders underground. Parents, guardians and carers will be allowed to seek information only about people in regular contact with their children.

Mr Reid's suggestion of chemical castration will be seen as an attempt to rebut accusations that he has backed down from his tough stance.

His aides say re-offending rates have dropped by 50 per cent in European countries and U.S. states where the method is used.

Mr Reid will tell MPs chemical castration will not be compulsory and offenders who agree to it will not win a reduction in their sentences. But it could be a factor in parole board decisions on release dates.

Dr Michelle Elliott, director of the anti-abuse charity Kidscape, said: "We welcome anything that makes it less likely a child will be abused. If it works the Government should make it mandatory for all convicted paedophiles.

"But research I have seen suggests castration may not work that effectively in the long term and that after around ten years there is no difference in reoffending rates."

Offenders would be given injections of the prostate cancer drug leuproreline, which cuts testosterone levels, dampens the sex drive and inhibits erections. The effect wears off when treatment stops, however.

The Home Office said: "The chemical is one of the measures being put forward in the review. It will be made available on a voluntary basis. Offering the chemical is new in the UK."

Mr Reid has backed away from Sarah's Law after research found that a similar measure in the U.S. drove up to 25 per cent of paedophiles underground. Parents will now not be given the right to information about paedophiles in their neighbourhood, nor told how many live near school routes and playgrounds.

Single mothers will be allowed to ask police about new boyfriends, and families will be able to ask for checks on new in-laws. But the fact that parents will not be entitled to the addresses of all convicted paedophiles living nearby will be a bitter blow to campaigners.

Police will be under a duty to carry out the checks, including whether a person is one of the 29,973 individuals now on the sex offenders register. Those given the information will have to sign a promise not to release the details to the wider public, to prevent vigilante attacks.

But the NSPCC warned even this limited disclosure could make sex offenders harder to monitor as the authorities became overwhelmed with requests for information.

Director Dame Mary Marsh said: "Agencies are already struggling to keep track of known offenders in the community."

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