Advocacy of castration for Guyanese offenders

Jan 12, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Perhaps I should begin with a caveat, that the medicine about to be administered may adversely affect the minds and bodies of testosterone carriers. Daily I become deeply saddened at the crime rate, traffic accidents, maternal and infant mortality deaths and under age sexual abuse victims, currently ravaging an already morally decayed land. I am as stymied as the next in ascertaining a rationale for the current deviant displayed behaviors, by the inhabitants who still lay claim to the nomenclature human being. Recent case in question was the 40 year imprisonment term imposed on Murphy Noahan for having carnal knowledge of a 10 year old relative.
This may seem to the presiding magistrate as an appropriate sentence given the nature of the crime. However, I beg to differ strongly. The perpetrator has been imprisoned with no measures aimed at curbing his deviancy. Is there a commonly held belief that time would abate his surges and urges?  Ironically enough he is just another addition to the growing number of sexual predators abounding in present day Guyana. Strangely enough, there are adults who in what can only be termed “questioning of my level of awareness’’, or position within “the loop” keep familiarizing me with the fact that rape and sexual knowledge of minors is nothing new in Guyana.
To their well-preserved recall and knowledge, it was existing from time immemorial.  This revelation caused me to send instantaneous silent orisons of gratitude to my departed parents especially my father, while at the selfsame time considering myself sexually fortunate or a female Houdini of sorts that I never encountered or fell victim to these miscreants. Nevertheless, for whatever reason(s) one may proffer that such practices were not brought to the forefront then, does not in any way detract from the fact that it was a wrong then, and continues to be a wrong now. The 2007 United States (US) Country Reports on Human Rights Practice indicated that in Guyana report of sexual abuse  of children were common (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 5).
The minimum age of consent for sexual activity for girls is sixteen years (Guyana 13 Feb. 2008; Every child / Help and Shelter Apr. 2008).The future of the nation lies with the young, the victims who sadly are the most vulnerable. Males are not exempt from being raped, case in question being the recent imprisonment of Charlestown businessman Kevin Jordan for 18 years on a conviction of buggery. The age of his victim -7 years.  How low can someone go, although in Guyana, there is no legislation that deals specifically with the rape or indecent assault of a male child, “buggery” is illegal under Section 353 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act (Guyana 1998b, Art. 353; The fact that this practice persists with alarming frequency, in my opinion brings with a call for the government to impose sterner measures that would send a clear message resulting in deterrence and desistence.
The time has come for Guyana to consider tougher punishment and stronger preventive measures.  In answer to this growing dilemma, I am seriously advocating the institution of chemical castration for sexual offenders. No need to gasp, as barbaric and inhumane as it may seem, it is an accepted manner of treatment for sexual offenders in certain countries even those classified as First World. In fact, California was the first U.S state to specify the use of chemical castration as a punishment for child molestation, and treatment is mandatory after a second offence. Furthermore offenders are not allowed to reject the treatment. The drug of choice Depo Provera, which is also a FDA approved birth control drug, does not bring about any permanent physical change to the body, and is intended through lowering of the testosterone level to reduce the sex drive, compulsive sexual fantasies and capacity for sexual arousal. In addition to California, at least seven other U. S states have experimented with chemical castration.
Senate Bill 144 signed by Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal allows Louisiana judges to sentence convicted rapists to chemical castrationThe government of India as part of an anti-rape law,following the worldwide outrage over the gang rape of a woman in Delhi, proposed chemical castration along with a 30 year prison sentence for rape convicts. South Korea passed a law in 2011, whereby judges were given the power to sentence sex offenders who have attacked children under the age of 16 years to chemical castration.
In January 2013 the country carried out its first ever chemical castration sentence. The Russian parliament has also approved a law that permits court requested forensic psychiatrists to prescribe chemical castration for sexual offenders who have harmed children under the age of 14 years. It is blatantly clear that Guyana needs to clean up both her sex act and after- treatment.  Nothing that has been tried thus far have proven efficacious, or at the minimum served as a deterrent. Available data purports that this type of treatment has proven effective in other countries. On May 11, 2015, the Guyanese populace voted for a change, not just in government but also a change in the overall handling of things. President Granger cannot act like a stranger, instead his government is now given a choice – No procrastination on the issue of castration for frustration may lead to castigation.   Sound the clarion there’ll be no escape for those who rape.
Yvonne Sam.

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