Should pedophiles and rapists be sterilized?

Question

I think at the very least they should be sterilized. There is no treatment or "cure" for being a pedophile and the damage they do to their victims lasts a lifetime. Not only that, but some abused children turn into abusers themselves. Not to mention that sterilization would greatly decrease their ability to commit the crime again. In your opinion is it ethical to sterilize a pedophile or rapist?

Answer 1

Sterilization means that they can't have children, and that's not the point.  I think you mean castrated, which I'm all for.

Answer 2

Yes but that may lead them to lash out in a worse way.I say lock them up with general population in prison and let prison politics run its course.

Answer 3

There are some states where they do that but it's chemical castration, not steralization, but the problem is, they just give you shots. It can be counteracted with the men taking testosterone, therefore ineffective. I think they should be locked up so that they have the pleasure of being raped in prison. Even prisoners don't like rapists and child molesters.  

Answer 4

What would be wrong with hanging them? Or firing squad. Stoning might be the idea. It's what the muslims do to the woman that gets raped.

Answer 5

No, it would be a waste of time to sterilize or castrate someone who should be immediately executed for a crime that could have been prevented by appropriate use of lethal force (for self defense) in the first place.

Answer 6

I think these people should have the option for castration.  Currently they do not, and some pedophiles have said "I will keep doing this, I don't want to do this, please castrate me" and they can't get the operation because doctors won't perform it (it's against the Hippocratic oath).

Mandatory would be unfair, but optional is certainly feasible if some will go down that path and correct their criminal urges.

Answer 7

I think a D&C should be done on the victim of she is of childbearing age, and I have heard that it's pretty commonly done, but I don't know. But I think sterilization is not of much value in preventing rape, so I never even reach the question of whether it's ethical.

My understanding of rape is that it's motivated not by lust but by anger and hatred, and directed at an often-random target the rapist perceives as weaker than himself (usually a woman, both because they can appear to be easier to overpower, and because a lot of rapists are terrified of the remotest suggestion that they might want to have s*x with other men). A lot of rapists have trouble performing and that can be a more dangerous situation for the victim.

If someone's convicted of rape, I favor life imprisonment without parole, and without segregation from the other inmates, who will know exactly what to do with him.  

Answer 8

They should be castrated!!!

Answer 9

I think you mean chemical castration or some other method of reducing their s*x drive.  Sterilization just keeps them from getting someone pregnant; it does not reduce the s*x drive.

I do support reversible chemical castration, although it wouldn't work for all cases or even a majority of them.  Rape is about control and violence, not s*x.  Pedophilia is about more than just a s*x drive.

I don't believe pedophiles can be "cured", so it is tough for me to decide what the fair solution would be.  

Answer 10

Personally, I belive that pedophiles and rapists should either be on Death Row OR thrown into general population in prision so long as all the other inmates know what they did to wind up incarserated.  Generally, s*x offenders don't last very long in general population when other inmates know what they did.