‘Chemical Castration’ On NHS For Sex Predators

Paedophiles and rapists are to be offered “chemical castration” on the NHS under a pioneering project being developed in Scotland.

{mosimage}The Scotsman has learned high-risk sex offenders in Edinburgh will be considered for drugs that reduce their libido when they are freed from prison.

The initiative is the brainchild of Dr Raj Darjee, a consultant forensic psychiatrist in Edinburgh, who believes drugs can play an important role in managing dangerous sexual predators once they are released into the community.

He said there was clear evidence that the use of anti-libidinous drugs could limit the chances of a paedophile or rapist striking again. “I think we can offer something that will reduce the risk,” he said. “If clinical treatment reduces the number of victims from 20 to ten, that’s got to be a good thing.”

He went on: “When high-risk offenders are released into the community in Edinburgh, from the courts or from prison, criminal justice agencies can refer them to us.

The purpose is for a psychiatric assessment to help the police and social work manage the risk. Part of that assessment will be to consider the use of medication.”

The psychiatric assessment and the use of medication would require the consent of the offender.

Last month, John Reid, the former home secretary, announced that the use of chemical castration – currently used in very few cases – would be expanded for sex offenders south of the Border.

While some US states have adopted forced chemical castration as a direct alternative to physical castration, Britain has been reluctant to embrace such methods, largely due to ethical concerns, as the drugs have not been subjected to the most rigorous tests and have known side-effects.

Dr Darjee, who is based at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, says he has strong support from social workers and police, who are responsible for monitoring sex offenders in the community.

Dr Richard Simpson, a consultant psychiatrist and former deputy justice minister, supported the use of drugs for dangerous offenders. The Labour MSP said: “It is important the drugs are taken voluntarily. It means they are entering into a contract with society, saying they want to address their problem.”

The move received cautious support from Margaret Ann Cummings, whose eight-year-old son, Mark, was murdered by convicted paedophile Stuart Leggate in Glasgow. She said: “This could be useful if it is carefully controlled.”
How drugs curtail offenders’ libidos

THERE are two types of medication for treating sex offenders.

The first, anti-libidinal drugs, work by reducing the effect of testosterone, the male sex hormone, on the body.

It is the use of these drugs that is known as “chemical castration”, as they limit or switch off someone’s sex drive.

The main anti-libidinal drug that is licensed in the United Kingdom is called cyproterone acetate (Androcur), which opposes the action of testosterone in the body rather than interfering with its production. The drug is taken in tablet form twice daily.

Another anti-libidinal drug, Leuprorelin, switches off the production of testosterone completely, through its action on the pituitary gland, situated just below the brain. It is injected.

Anti-libidinal drugs can have marked side effects, such as the development of breast tissue, osteoporosis and liver problems.

The other treatment comes in the form of a group of drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most widely known of which is Prozac, or fluoxetine.

The effectiveness of these drugs on sex offenders is less conclusive. However, some research has found they decrease the preoccupation with sexual deviation. They are appropriate, therefore, only for men who have strong sexual fantasies and show signs of “obsessive rumination” on them.

The aim is to give them a “window” from their fantasies, allowing them to concentrate on therapy rather than think about sex all the time.

Don Grubin, a professor of forensic psychiatry at Newcastle University, said: “It is a matter of damping down their libido a bit, rather than suppressing it.”

When George Bush, the United States president, was governor of Texas, he signed a law giving sex offenders a choice between compulsory injections or having their testicles removed.

Similar laws had already been passed in Florida and California, which introduced castration for rapists. The Texas law followed the case of child molester Larry Don McQuay who, on the eve of his release from jail in 1996, publicly pleaded to be castrated.

The use of drugs to curb the sex drives of offenders has been introduced in Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark.

‘IT WORKED FOR ME’

A CONVICTED child sex abuser says taking drugs to reduce his deviant fantasies has prevented him preying on more victims.

He said so-called chemical castration suppressed his sexual urges and stopped him committing further crimes. “This treatment is all that stops me reoffending,” he said. “It changed my life.”

He is one of about a dozen sex offenders given drug injections every 12 weeks since 2000 under a pilot scheme in England.