The United Kingdom is planning on trialing chemical castration on convicted sex offenders as part of a larger overhaul of the justice system aimed at tackling the country’s prison overcrowding problem.
The concept was first proposed by Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood, who announced the plans to use "medication to manage problematic sexual arousal" following a review.
"I am exploring whether mandating the approach is possible," she told lawmakers.
The review also proposed a system where offenders can earn earlier release through good behaviour and compliance with prison rules, and said custodial sentences of less than a year should only be used in exceptional circumstances.
"It is vital that this approach is taken alongside psychological interventions that target other causes of offending, like asserting power and control," she added. "For some, offending relates to power, but for another subset of offenders, the combination of chemical suppressants and psychological interventions, can, we believe, have a big and positive impact."
Overcrowding in British prisons
Tackling the overcrowding prison problem was an early promise by the Labour government, which claimed that the issue threatened "total breakdown of law and order."
With approximately 60,000 registered sex offenders in the UK as of March 2019, according to the HM Inspectorate of Probation, plans on tackling the crisis have drawn wide public attention.
The prison population in England and Wales then reached a record high in September, and earlier this year, the government said police cells would be used temporarily to hold prisoners as an emergency stopgap measure to cope with overcrowding in prison.
The pilot program will be rolled out across 20 prisons in southwestern England, Mahmood said.
Ethical concerns in mandating chemical castration for sex offenders
The justice minister, according to BBC News, is exploring a national rollout of the program and whether it could one day become mandatory for convicted sex offenders.
David Gauke, who previously held various ministerial positions in the Conservative Party, including lord chancellor, and first recommended the review, warned BBC Breakfast, "It is not the answer for every sex offender – this is something we would see as a treatment essentially for reducing the risk of reoffending, rather than a punishment."
"The review recommends exploring how the scheme operates on a voluntary basis rather than mandatory basis, that's the position of the review," he shared.
Forensic psychiatry Prof. Don Grubin told BBC News he did not think the government would "get the mandatory element of it off the ground" as to "simply make somebody take [the treatment] would be very unethical and... most doctors I know would be resistant to it."
Poland, Germany, and Denmark all currently chemically castrate sex offenders, although the latter two countries on a voluntary basis.
Critics of the pilot have also warned that chemical castration can carry a number of unpleasant side effects, although earlier studies have indicated the method can reduce reoffending rates.