‘One must consider chemically castrating all those convicted of sexual assault against children’, said Per-Willy Amundsen, Justice and Emergency Minister for Fremskrittsparti (Frp).
‘I am concerned that we are able to arrest, judge, prosecute, and take out of society these pedophile monsters who have nothing useful to offer. All measures should be considered’, said Amundsen to TV 2 news.
Amundsen has previously said that he will ‘take care of Norwegians’ who commit sexual offences against children. Now, he has gone futher.
Suggested already in 2009
Frp has repeatedly considered medical castration of perpetrators. In 2009, the party suggested giving people who are convicted of serious sexual assault hormone treatment that causes them to lose their sex drive.
In April 2014, the party’s justice spokeswoman, Ulf Leirstein, said it was time for a new debate when the so-called ‘pocketman’ applied for release when the minimum custody period of his sentence expired.
In November last year, Justice Politician, Jan Arild Ellingsen, said that chemical castration must be discussed as a method in fighting child abuse.
‘If we can save a child from abuse by taking this measure, then that’s enough for me. The rights of our children not to be exposed to these terrible acts go far beyond the pedophile’s right to exercise their sexuality’, said Amundsen.
Psychologists critical
Psychologist and researcher Pål Grøndahl thinks the proposal is little thought out, and calls it a simple solution that he believes probably won’t work.
In November last year, specialist psychologist, Svein Øverland, warned on NRK news that to believe hormone treatment alone would cause an abuser to quit is a mistake. He said that there’s disagreement in the academic community about whether hormone treatment is the way to go, and that research on the field is growing.
Another specialist in clinical psychology, and sexology, Thore Langfeldt, is among those who have been critical of the method. Among other things, he showed that anabolic steroids that eliminate the effects of hormone preparations are readily available on the market.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
