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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 8, 2023 02:30 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr. |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Chemical Castration for Child Sex Offenders and Repeat Sex Offenders |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to require sex offenders convicted of abusing children under the age of 13 or sex offenders who are repeat offenders to be chemically castrated. This legislation would mandate sex offenders to be injected with a testosterone-reducing drug before parole and until a judge believes the treatment is unnecessary as a means of attempting to deter future unconscionable behavior. Chemical castration does not cause sterilization and is not permanent. Using castration to control sex offenders' urges to commit these heinous acts again allows the convicted sex offender, if released on parole, to be released without endangering the public. This legislation would also allow first-time offenders who are not convicted of abusing children, as well as those sentenced prior to enactment of this legislation, to be chemically castrated voluntarily. In other states, offenders have opted to be chemically castrated to ensure they do not reoffend. Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Texas, and Wisconsin have some form of a chemical castration law on the books for these offenders. The General Assembly has approved many measures over previous sessions to reduce recidivism rates, this legislation is another tool in the toolbox to achieve this bi-partisan goal, as chemical castration has been proven to dramatically reduce recidivism rates. Please consider co-sponsoring this legislation to better protect the public and support a proven, effective measure to reduce recidivism. |