Some sex offenders in Thailand will soon be able to opt for chemical castration in exchange for shortened prison terms, in a controversial move that will see the Southeast Asia nation join a small number of countries around the world in allowing the practice.
According to a bill approved by the Thai Senate on Monday, repeat sex offenders will be able to choose to receive injections that would temporarily reduce their testosterone levels and sex drive, with the hope that the procedure will stop them from committing further sex crimes.
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The bill, which passed in the lower house in March, is awaiting reaffirmation from the lower house and will officially become law when it’s published in the Royal Gazette. The timeline for the bill’s passage isn’t known, but authorities say they are hoping for swift process as a way to lower rates of sex crimes.
“I want this law to pass quickly,” Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin was quoted as saying on Tuesday. “I don’t want to see news about bad things happening to women again.”
According to the Thai bill, anti-libidinal medication will only be prescribed with the consent of the sex offender and after it has been approved by two experts: a psychiatric specialist and an internal medicine specialist. Offenders will also have to wear electronic bracelets and be monitored for 10 years.
Chemical castration is used in a select group of countries, including Poland, South Korea, Russia, Australia, the UK, and some U.S. states, as a way to prevent sex offenders from falling back into committing sex crimes. However, the practice remains highly controversial, with many arguing that it’s a violation of an offender’s human rights when made mandatory, and that it does not actually tackle the root cause of sexual violence.
Last year, Indonesia passed a law mandating child sex offenders to undergo chemical castration for a maximum period of two years. The law, first proposed in 2016 after the horrific rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl which sparked outrage across the country, was delayed as the country’s medical authorities argued they were not able to ethically carry out mandatory castrations.
According to Thailand’s corrections department, among convicted sex offenders who were released from prison between 2013 and 2020, about 30 percent were known to have re-offended. As reports of sexual violence continue to make headlines, especially those involving minors, chemical castration has garnered support among the Thai public.
But Jaded Chouwilai, the director of Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, a gender equality advocacy group concerned with sexual violence, told VICE World News that chemical castration doesn’t tackle the issue at its root.
“It’s not useful because it doesn’t change the mindset of the offender,” he said. “When the chemical treatment stops, they’re going to have the same mindset. We didn’t fix their mindset, they’re going to do it again.”
According to Thailand’s health ministry, over 31,000 women were raped in 2013, the majority of whom were university and school students. Describing sex offenses as a “big problem in Thailand,” Jaded said that authorities need to tackle sexual violence at a deeper level, including addressing a widespread culture of victim-blaming and normalizing sexual violence.
In recent years, Thai soap operas have been called out for their gratuitous rape scenes, which critics say trivialize sexual assault.
