Dear All,
.
When I published my last book, Building the Future Buddha, the most controversial section built on my training as a lawyer and experience as a Zen prison volunteer at maximum security prisons in Florida, including with sex offenders. I said that certain pharmacological technologies are coming that, if proven safe and effective (this is imperative), far beyond the crude approaches of 75 years ago and more, then they may offer alternatives to prison, saving many ruined lives both on the part of victims and those trapped in prison. I also emphasize in my book that these technologies are coming anyway, probably cannot be stopped, so should be used for good. Is it better to return someone plagued by demons within to balance and health, allowing them to be productive participants in society. At the very least, think of the millions of children, women and men who would be spared the trauma of assault. All must be administered via courts allowing all due process. Finally, any such treatments must be VOLUNTARY, not forced on the incarcerated, but simply offered as an alternative to standard imprisonment.
I think the title in the news article, "chemical castration," is most unfortunate. These are not the crude and often ineffective techniques of 75 years ago. These are more humane approaches, and medical science has advanced greatly since the last century. Still, they remain treatments with serious potential side-effects. Hopefully, more refined alternates will be developed in the near future. My main concern is sparing the children, women and many men who are victims of these demons.
FORCING inmates to participate through compulsory order is widely held to be unethical ...
.
Gassho, J
stlah
.
When I published my last book, Building the Future Buddha, the most controversial section built on my training as a lawyer and experience as a Zen prison volunteer at maximum security prisons in Florida, including with sex offenders. I said that certain pharmacological technologies are coming that, if proven safe and effective (this is imperative), far beyond the crude approaches of 75 years ago and more, then they may offer alternatives to prison, saving many ruined lives both on the part of victims and those trapped in prison. I also emphasize in my book that these technologies are coming anyway, probably cannot be stopped, so should be used for good. Is it better to return someone plagued by demons within to balance and health, allowing them to be productive participants in society. At the very least, think of the millions of children, women and men who would be spared the trauma of assault. All must be administered via courts allowing all due process. Finally, any such treatments must be VOLUNTARY, not forced on the incarcerated, but simply offered as an alternative to standard imprisonment.
I think the title in the news article, "chemical castration," is most unfortunate. These are not the crude and often ineffective techniques of 75 years ago. These are more humane approaches, and medical science has advanced greatly since the last century. Still, they remain treatments with serious potential side-effects. Hopefully, more refined alternates will be developed in the near future. My main concern is sparing the children, women and many men who are victims of these demons.
The pilot for the voluntary chemical castration of sex offenders will be extended to 20 prisons in England, the justice secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood said she would expand a small pilot in south-west England to two regions, after an independent sentencing review recommended it continue.
Mahmood is also exploring a national rollout of voluntary chemical castration for sex offenders, and whether it could be made mandatory. No timeline for this decision has been set.
Forensic psychiatry Prof Don Grubin said 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".
Chemical castration, which is delivered through drugs taken alongside psychiatric work, is targeted at sex offenders who have compulsive and invasive thoughts about sex, or have problematic sexual preoccupations.
The approach has been used in some European countries. In Germany and Denmark, the use of chemical suppression has only been administered on a voluntary basis, while Poland introduced mandatory chemical suppression for some sex offenders.
The suggestion to continue the pilot in England and Wales was one of 48 recommendations set out by former Lord Chancellor David Gauke's Independent Sentencing Review, which was commissioned to look into the causes of the prison overcrowding crisis and to consider alternative punishments to custodial sentences.
Mahmood told the House of Commons on Thursday that she will go further and expand the pilot to build evidence and "make sure that we are using every tool at our disposal that can cut reoffending".
... "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."
Gauke's report said sexual offences accounted for 21% of adults serving immediate custodial sentences at the end of March 2025.
The review made the recommendation to "build a comprehensive evidence base around the use of chemical suppression for sex offenders and explore options for continued funding of services in this area".
It cautioned that use of these medications "should never be used as a risk management tool or standalone rehabilitative offer, and it is only appropriate for a limited number of sex offenders".
Understanding how other jurisdictions have managed the "ethical and practical implications" is crucial as gaining "valid, informed consent" to a course of treatment is a key tenet of medical law in England and Wales, the review said.
... Prof Grubin said hormonal medications have "pretty serious side effects" and "somebody would have to really want to get their sex drive under control to agree to be on those drugs".
However, he said you could make it a condition of a parole licence, such as in California, where it is mandated for a second time sex offender when the victim is under 13.
... Chemical castration is delivered through two drugs. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) limit invasive sexual thoughts, while anti-androgens reduce the production of testosterone and limit libido.
The drugs are taken alongside psychiatric work that targets other causes of sexual offending, such as a desire for power and control. ... Research on the impact of chemical castration - while limited - has shown considerable reductions in reoffending rates. One study followed ten offenders, none of whom reoffended after treatment.
Another study paired one group of sex offenders who had been chemically castrated with another who had not. Reoffending rates were 60% lower among the group who had been chemically castrated. ... Prof Grubin said the reoffending rate for people on the hormonal medication "is very, very low" because it is effective at reducing sexual drive.
However, he said that effectiveness is hard to demonstrate in reoffending studies because it takes years to see if it is having a long-term effect, and because no one will agree to randomise a high risk sex offender who does not take the medication with someone who does to compare.
Shabana Mahmood said she would expand a small pilot in south-west England to two regions, after an independent sentencing review recommended it continue.
Mahmood is also exploring a national rollout of voluntary chemical castration for sex offenders, and whether it could be made mandatory. No timeline for this decision has been set.
Forensic psychiatry Prof Don Grubin said 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".
Chemical castration, which is delivered through drugs taken alongside psychiatric work, is targeted at sex offenders who have compulsive and invasive thoughts about sex, or have problematic sexual preoccupations.
The approach has been used in some European countries. In Germany and Denmark, the use of chemical suppression has only been administered on a voluntary basis, while Poland introduced mandatory chemical suppression for some sex offenders.
The suggestion to continue the pilot in England and Wales was one of 48 recommendations set out by former Lord Chancellor David Gauke's Independent Sentencing Review, which was commissioned to look into the causes of the prison overcrowding crisis and to consider alternative punishments to custodial sentences.
Mahmood told the House of Commons on Thursday that she will go further and expand the pilot to build evidence and "make sure that we are using every tool at our disposal that can cut reoffending".
... "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."
Gauke's report said sexual offences accounted for 21% of adults serving immediate custodial sentences at the end of March 2025.
The review made the recommendation to "build a comprehensive evidence base around the use of chemical suppression for sex offenders and explore options for continued funding of services in this area".
It cautioned that use of these medications "should never be used as a risk management tool or standalone rehabilitative offer, and it is only appropriate for a limited number of sex offenders".
Understanding how other jurisdictions have managed the "ethical and practical implications" is crucial as gaining "valid, informed consent" to a course of treatment is a key tenet of medical law in England and Wales, the review said.
... Prof Grubin said hormonal medications have "pretty serious side effects" and "somebody would have to really want to get their sex drive under control to agree to be on those drugs".
However, he said you could make it a condition of a parole licence, such as in California, where it is mandated for a second time sex offender when the victim is under 13.
... Chemical castration is delivered through two drugs. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) limit invasive sexual thoughts, while anti-androgens reduce the production of testosterone and limit libido.
The drugs are taken alongside psychiatric work that targets other causes of sexual offending, such as a desire for power and control. ... Research on the impact of chemical castration - while limited - has shown considerable reductions in reoffending rates. One study followed ten offenders, none of whom reoffended after treatment.
Another study paired one group of sex offenders who had been chemically castrated with another who had not. Reoffending rates were 60% lower among the group who had been chemically castrated. ... Prof Grubin said the reoffending rate for people on the hormonal medication "is very, very low" because it is effective at reducing sexual drive.
However, he said that effectiveness is hard to demonstrate in reoffending studies because it takes years to see if it is having a long-term effect, and because no one will agree to randomise a high risk sex offender who does not take the medication with someone who does to compare.
.
Gassho, J
stlah
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