State Capitol building
Despite massive clean-up efforts in Nashville following last night’s deadly tornadoes, state lawmakers still had more than an hour to debate chemical castration for some parolees.
Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) told members of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee that he knew chemical castration sounded like “hard terminology.” Still, that’s just what he wants for sex offenders whose crimes involve children under the age of 12.
His bill, HB 1585, would require such offenders to voluntarily take Depo-Provera, a drug to reduce libido and sexual activity, as a condition of their parole. The parolee would have to pay for the monthly treatments and could not get out on parole without it. The treatments would continue until parole ends.
Griffey explained that similar legislation has been passed in 10 states, including California, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Alabama, and more.
“If these folks are going to be out there in the community, it’s only reasonable that folks who want parole would agree to this condition,” Griffey said. “We’re trying to implement measures to protect any children out there in the community and to protect from future attacks.”
Rep. Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) said the legislature passed a law protecting women from such conditions about two years ago. He worried Griffey’s bill would reverse that law or be in conflict with it.
Rep. Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) said he feared such a condition could be overruled by a court as “cruel and unusual punishment.” That was a fear only because it could put Tennessee’s sex offender registry in jeopardy, Doggett said.
Griffey argued that his bill would not conflict with prior Tennessee legislation, nor would it jeopardize the sex offender registry. Several times he repeated that he “only wants to protect children.”
In a bit of seventh-grade, flip-side logic, Rep. Brandon Ogles (R-Franklin) argued for conditioning the drug.
“A large number of men already take drugs to enhance their libido,” Ogles argued. “If (the drug) only reduces it, it’s not cruel and unusual punishment since a large percentage of males takes similar drugs freely and that drug market is doing very well.”
Rep. G A Hardaway (R-Memphis) hoped Griffey would make an exception in the bill for children who have been tried as adults. (Nothing was agreed to, but it didn’t seem to gain much traction.) Rep. Antonio Parkinson (R-Memphis) asked the sponsor if the drug would “feminize a male.”
The bill was held for one week as committee members wanted to hear from state officials with the Tennessee Department of Health on how they would administer the drug.
A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (JAAPL) said castration has been used as a treatment option for sex-offending behavior since 1944.
That 1992 study “demonstrates the efficacy” of using Depo-Provera to reduce sex-offending behavior.” The drug did not work on all patients and “it does have significant side effects.”
“However, in the carefully selected, motivated, well-informed patient, (the drug) seems to be useful in reducing their sex-offending behavior and preventing further victimization,” reads the study.