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Chemical castration may lead to sadistic personality: Psychologist
Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembisa answers questions from journalists
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Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembisa answers questions from journalists. The ministry is finalizing a regulation, expected to come into force next year, that would allow the chemical castration of convicted sex offenders. (Kompas.com/Kahfi Dirga Cahya) (Kompas.com/Kahfi Dirga Cahya)
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span class="inline inline-center">Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembisa answers questions from journalists. The ministry is finalizing a regulation, expected to come into force next year, that would allow the chemical castration of convicted sex offenders. (kompas.com/Kahfi Dirga Cahya)
The government should consider many aspects before using chemical castration as punishment for child molesters as it may create a more sadistic person, a psychologist has said.
Psychologist Kasandra Putranto said on Friday that a child molester suffered disorders and did not get help to deal with the problem, while the psychological effect of chemical castration depended on the psychological state of the culprit.
'Although there has been no research proving that a chemically castrated person can become more sadistic, theoretically it may be that way. Chemical castration may bring someone's sexual desire under control, but it cannot fix the cognitive and psychomotoric status of the culprit. Chemical castration could lead to a desire for revenge,' Kasandra said recently.
Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yambise has stated that chemical castration would act as a deterrent to child sex offenders. She also said that the plan to chemically castrate child molesters was in the final stage. The ministry was assigned by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to formulate a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu).
'[Chemical] castration is one way to combat the sexual abuse of children,' said Yohana as quoted by Antara news agency on Dec. 15.
Kasandra said the best way to stop child sexual abuse was by intervention through the law, education, information technology and social and cultural movements.
She said that child abuse was allowed to thrive in terms of social and cultural aspects, such as by making the 16 legal age for females to marry. She said the law simply made it legal for a child to be married off before they were physically and mentally ready. (cal)
