Alabama Mulls Chemical Castration Bill
The Associated Press, March 20, 2000

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama lawmakers are considering making their state the ninth to pass legislation that would allow child molesters to be chemically castrated as a means of keeping them from repeating their crimes.

California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon and Wisconsin already have chemical castration laws on the books. Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has been pushing for a similar law every year since California became the first state in 1996.

Under Siegelman's legislation, a judge could order chemical castration as a condition of probation or parole for a person convicted a first time for the rape, sodomy, sexual torture or first-degree sexual abuse of a child under 13. Offenders also could choose surgical castration instead.

Chemical castration would be mandatory for offenders seeking probation or parole for a second offense, and those who still pose a threat at the end of probation or parole would have to keep taking chemical castration treatments.

The treatments involve taking shots of Depo-Provera, a birth control treatment for women that reduces testosterone levels -- and usually sexual desire -- in men. State officials estimate the cost at $2,400 a year.

Sex offenders would pay the tab if they could afford it. If not, the state parole board would cover the cost.

Advocates for crime victims are giving the bill mixed reviews.

Miriam Shehane, director of Victims of Crime and Leniency, considers it worth a try.

``I certainly don't think it's going to cure all of the ills by any stretch of the imagination, but doing nothing is worse,'' she said.

But Torie Hilton, director of the Alabama Coalition Against Rape, fears it will lead to shorter sentences for sex offenders and will result in a false sense of security because she says studies show chemical castration is not totally effective.

``It by no means makes sex offenders safe to be put back in the community,'' Hilton said.

Paul Hamrick, Siegelman's chief of staff, said shortened sentences are not the legislation's intent.

``We'll be watching the parole board very closely because that's the last thing that needs to happen,'' he said.

Cynthia Dillard, spokeswoman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, said the board was supervising 464 people in February who had committed sex crimes against children under 13.

Statistics were unavailable on how many were second-time offenders, but she said it would be extremely small because most repeat offenders get life sentences.

Republican Rep. Jeremy Oden is sponsoring Siegelman's bill in the House where it is pending. A companion bill has passed the Senate and is pending in a House committee.

``We are trying our best to keep these individuals from doing what they do,'' he said.

Chemical castration has attracted media attention for its successes and its failures. Joseph Frank Smith is an example of both.

Smith was dubbed the Ski Mask Rapist in Texas, where he was convicted of raping the same woman twice in 1983, and in 1984 appeared on CBS's ''60 Minutes'' as a success story for chemical castration. But he quit taking the treatments and was convicted in 1998 of molesting a 5-year-old girl in Virginia. Scott Thornsley, a criminology professor at Troy State University, said chemical castration works like birth control: The effect ends when a person quits taking it.

. He said Siegelman's bill should also provide for counseling to ensure the treatments are successful, although Hamrick said there isn't enough money for that.

Nevertheless, Thornsley said, ``Even if it is minimal treatment, it is better than nothing.''