Can chemical castration stop paedophiles from acting on their urges?

[Hans Mann]

Unique Swedish study tests drugs to prevent child sex abuse


Christoffer Rahm (right) is the psychiatrist and lead researcher for the ground-breaking trial at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute

Stockholm (AFP) - "No one would choose this, it's obvious," said Anders who has unwanted sexual thoughts about children.

He is at the forefront of a unique scientific study under way in Sweden to see if drugs can prevent paedophiles from acting on their urges.

Anders, who agreed to be interviewed using a pseudonym, says he has never abused children but sought help because he knew his sexual fantasies were "not normal". He hopes the ground-breaking trial will halt his "improper" urges.

At Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, patients like Anders who have sought help for paedophile fantasies, but have not acted on them, are being given a drug normally used to treat advanced prostate cancer to determine if it reduces the risk of them sexually abusing a child.

"The goal is to establish a preventive treatment programme for men with paedophiliac disorder that is both effective and tolerable so that we can prevent child sexual abuse from happening in the first place," psychiatrist and lead researcher Christoffer Rahm told AFP.

Various types of chemical castration are used around the world on paedophiles convicted of actual sex offences, but the treatment is not used preventively.

- 'Determine the risk' -

"What we introduce with this study is a way of shifting perspective from being reactive to proactive," Rahm said.

Clinical studies on paedophiles are also rare, because of ethical issues and difficulties gathering data. Conducting research where patients risk harming a third party requires special cooperation with legal and child welfare experts, Rahm said.

In the clinical trial, half of the 60 subjects receive an injection of the drug Degarelix and the other half get a "dummy" drug, or placebo.

Subjects who receive Degarelix will have non-detectable levels of testosterone after three days, an effect that lasts about three months.

Testosterone is involved in several of the most important risk factors for committing child sex abuse, including high sexual arousal, diminished self-control and low empathy, Rahm said.

Anders does not know if he has received the real drug or the placebo, and will only find out when the study is completed in two to three years.

"I have noticed that my sex drive has been sinking lately but I don't know if it's attributable to the medicine," Anders says.

Subjects will also undergo brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they are looking at computer-generated pictures of partially-clothed people of all ages, to see how different areas of their brains react.

- 'Such a stigma' -

"We're trying to establish objective markers to determine the risk of the patient actually committing child sexual abuse," brain scan expert Benny Liberg said.

He described the three regions that were activated on Anders' brain scan during the experiment: that responsible for controlling sensory perception; the region that monitors one's own body; and that which inhibits unwanted behaviour responses.

"This is the type of behaviour we're very much trying to affect with the pharmaceutical intervention," Liberg said.

Using the drugs together with the brain scans and patient counselling, Rahm and Liberg hope they have devised a formula that will enable scientists to accurately assess the risk of a patient sexually abusing a child. But the drug alone will not be a miracle cure.

During the three-month period with low testosterone levels, "you can start up more long-term treatments, such as social interventions and psychotherapy," Rahm said.

Volunteers for the study have been recruited from Karolinska University Hospital's treatment programme for unwanted sexual behaviour, and from a national helpline.

Child sex assaults are devastating for the victims, and with as many as 85 percent of such crimes going unreported, tools are needed to treat potential abusers, said Stefan Arver, the head of Karolinska Institute's Centre for Andrology and Sexual Medicine.

He estimates that about five percent of the population "entertain thoughts and fantasies involving children in a sexual context," though very few ever act on them.

Around 80 percent of those who seek treatment in Stockholm were exposed to physical or psychological trauma in childhood.

Anders started having his unwanted thoughts when he was 15 and he said it took a long time to muster the courage to get help.

"I realised almost two years ago that I needed to take care of this in some way. But there's such a stigma, you're afraid of being reported," he said.

"The stigma prevents people from seeking help, which could be destructive in the long term."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/unique-sw...-sh&soc_trk=tw

[pseudolus]

paedophiliac disorder

Will they be calling Murder a killing disorder soon?

Its an interesting idea, and I think it has been tried before as memory serves. However, it is only useful I would guess for those sexually excited by children, and not for those monsters who sue children as a non sexual power kick.

[thaimeme]

Wouldn't straight up execution serve a better purpose?

[Mr Earl]

Wouldn't straight up execution serve a better purpose?

Or simple castration with a rusty Opinel

[DrB0b]

Wouldn't straight up execution serve a better purpose?

Or simple castration with a rusty Opinel

No point. A simple injection of their own urine and all would be restored. Surely you knew that

[Mr Earl]

Wouldn't straight up execution serve a better purpose?

Or simple castration with a rusty Opinel

No point. A simple injection of their own urine and all would be restored. Surely you knew that

Bob are ya a bit dim?

Should yur family be concerned?

[harrybarracuda]

I'm all for castration, but why waste money on chemicals?

[DrB0b]

I'm all for castration, but why waste money on chemicals?

Because chemicals remove the urge while physical castration doesn't. And in answer to your next question a penis is not a necessity for sexual assault.

[pseudolus]

^^ Indeed. Lots of perves like you who would volunteer to bite them off, heh?



Just ship them all off to the channel islands and let them stay there with all the other masonic pedos?

[harrybarracuda]

^^ Indeed. Lots of perves like you who would volunteer to bite them off, heh?



Just ship them all off to the channel islands and let them stay there with all the other masonic pedos?

My dear pseudopuss, you seem to be a bit obsessed with homosexuality at the moment.

What's up, are you on the verge of announcing your queerness to the world?

[harrybarracuda]

I'm all for castration, but why waste money on chemicals?

Because chemicals remove the urge while physical castration doesn't. And in answer to your next question a penis is not a necessity for sexual assault.

I was thinking more of branding "fucking paedo" on their foreheads with a hot iron and then using it to burn their bollocks off.

[pseudolus]

Sorry but no - I am already comfortable with my sexuality, and do not need to announce anything. Same as you really, no need to announce anything; we all know you are a poof.

[nidhogg]

Wouldn't straight up execution serve a better purpose?

Not sure many people would go with execution as a solution to peoples thoughts.

Jeeze. Probably 90% of married men would be up against the wall for considering murdering their wives.

[Hans Mann]

[pseudolus]

I wonder if they can counteract it by shooting themselves up with loads of testosterone shots?

[BobR]

I'm all for castration, but why waste money on chemicals?

I've said it before, but it defies all logic that countries who are willing to impose the death penalty balk at the idea of castrating or completely removing the genitals of serious sex offenders as a condition of ever being paroled.

[Hans Mann]

Paedophiles face death and castration in Indonesia

JAKARTA: Paedophiles and child rapists may soon be subject to harsh penalties, including chemical castration and the death penalty, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo having decided to issue a tough new regulation against sex crimes.

Jokowi gave his consent for the issuance of a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) which will serve as a new legal basis to deter people from committing sex crimes against children, ordering officials to finalise the draft immediately after he announced the sexual abuse of children as an extraordinary crime “that needs extraordinary measures”.

The government expects the House of Representatives to approve the Perppu, which will introduce a maximum sentence of 20 years, lifetime imprisonment, while those found guilty of committing premeditated murder after committing a sexual crime against a child may face a death sentence.

The existing Child Protection Law was revised in 2014, but the amendment sanctions a maximum 15-year term of imprisonment for rapists, as stipulated in Article 81, and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the murderer of a child.

The Perppu will also impose chemical castration for convicted paedophiles and child rapists, another controversial sanction.

“It (chemical castration) can be given (to the convict) during or after serving a prison sentence,” Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said.

He later ensured that chemical castration would not be a compulsory measure, saying that the court would determine whether or not such a sanction should be imposed.

The government is also mulling a plan to enforce ankle monitors containing tracking chips for convicted paedophiles and child rapists post prison term and imposing further social sanctions by publishing their identity to the public.

However, opposition to the Perppu, particularly with regard to chemical castration and the death penalty, was voiced on Wednesday by a number of rights activists who deem the sanction an unsatisfactory solution.

Activists argued that, even in countries where chemical castration has been implemented, questions have been raised about whether or not it works as a deterrent.

“Castration is not a solution. We believe that it will extend the chain of sexual abuse because it is also a form of sexual torture,” said Lathiefah Widuri Retyaningtyas, an activist from the Perempuan Mahardhika group. — The Jakarta Post / Asia News Network

Paedophiles face death and castration in Indonesia - Regional | The Star Online

[Hans Mann]

Indonesian doctors refuse to castrate child sex offenders

DOCTORS in Indonesia have declined to perform medical castration on those convicted of sex crimes against children.

This comes after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo vowed to introduce chemical castration as part of government efforts to curb the rise in number of sexual assault cases involving children. The government is also mulling the death penalty for severe offences.

Citing medical ethics, the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) said its members do not want to be involved in inducing the castration on those convicted of the crimes.

“We are not opposed to the regulation adding castration as a possible punishment. However, the injections should not be administered by a doctor,” IDI chairman Ilham Oetama Marsis told a press conference late last week, according to Coconuts Jakarta.

Chemical castration involves the usage of drugs to reduce libido in men, stemming their sex drive and their ability to be sexually aroused.

Demands for harsher punishments have increased following the brutal rape and murder of a teenage girl by 14 men in western Indonesia in April this year, followed by a string of similar cases.

The new set of laws has received various reactions from the public, civil society groups, and even celebrities with some in favor of them, while others raised human rights concerns.

Dr. Priyo Sidipratomo, chairman of the Honorary Council of Medical Ethics (MKEK), said medical practitioners do not use their knowledge for non-humanitarian purposes.

“Doctors are charged with only using their skills for the benefit of humanity. Even in war, doctors must save humanity, even if it is the enemy,” he said.

Indonesian doctors refuse to castrate child sex offenders