Thursday January, 2005

Alexander: An argument for chemical castration

"A monthly dose of Triptorelin for Lloyd McIntosh could do more to keep his predatory instincts at bay than just surrounding him with expensive minders," said United Future Law & Order spokesman Marc Alexander.

"The fact is that McIntosh is rated as one of New Zealands most dangerous sex offenders, and though he's on preventative detention, in my opinion he shouldn't be let out at all. But since our criminal justice system does not adequately deal with high risk future offending, sadly prefering to wait for new victims instead, then in conjunction with a minder the least we could do is ensure his libido is kept down."

"Research overseas shows that chemical castration can be very effective, cutting reoffending rates from 50% down to below 5%! Just ask the people of Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Iceland and the U.S. What do they know that we don't? Instead of putting our heads in the sand we need to learn from them."

"It's all very well for the hand-wringers to say he's not violent (as a Victorian University criminologist has said). I believe that most Kiwis would consider any sexual offending to be inherantly violent. Just ask the victims!"

"Simply providing a number of minders at high cost is hopeless. He has already shown his capacity for reoffending; you only have to go back to September 2003 when he attacked a woman in his bedroom while the minder was outside the door! Just how stupid do we have to be?"

"We should cut his capacity to reoffend by cutting his instinct. It's neither cruel nor barbaric. It's a practical way to save more innocent from becoming victims."

ENDS

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