Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood of the United Kingdom is considering options for expanding chemical castration treatments for sex offenders. Chemical castration combines drugs with therapy to lower testosterone levels with the aim to lower one’s sex drive. There are currently chemical castration pilot programs happening in English prisons, but they are on a voluntary basis. Mahmood has floated the possibilities of mandatory chemical castration programs. Such efforts are all in pursuit of preventing reoffending and responding to the overcrowded prison system. There is A LOT to consider here in terms of legality, ethics, and protocol. Writing for The Conversation, Lisa Forsberg productively maps out many of these major considerations. Since parallel treatments like forced sterilization are still happening around the world, this developing story needs to be taken very seriously.
Chemical castration? No, this is not a Margaret Atwood novel
