Lawmakers in Alabama will have a chance to consider whether sex offenders should be castrated for their crimes. On Thursday, a state legislator introduced a bill that would require the procedure for adults convicted of sexually abusing children.
House Bill 365 was introduced by State Rep. Steve Hurst, R-Calhoun County. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, officials said.
The bill would require anyone over 21 years old who is convicted of “certain sex offenses” against a victim 12 years old or younger be surgically castrated before his or her release from custody. Authorities did not immediately specify which certain offenses would rise to the threshold requiring surgical castration.
The cost of the procedure would fall on the convicted offender.
"They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the crime," Hurst told WIAT. "If we do something of this nature it would deter something like this happening again in Alabama and maybe reduce the numbers."
According to the news station, Hurst has introduced similar bill in the past. He's come up against critics who argue castration is an inhumane, over-the-top way to deal with the problem of child sex abuse.
“I asked them, what's more inhumane than when you take a little infant child, and you sexually molest that infant child when the child cannot defend themselves or get away?” he told WIAT. “If you want to talk about inhumane -- that's inhumane.”
