The science and ethics of castration: Lessons from the Morse case

Northwestern University Law Review

Volumn 92, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 1225-1245

  Bailey, J Michael ^a   Greenberg, Aaron S ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0347172112     PISSN: 00293571     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. See, e.g., Mike Robinson, Sex Offender Voluntarily Having Himself Castrated, ASSOC. PRESS., Jan. 16, 1998.
2. See JAMES D. WEINRICH, SEXUAL LANDSCAPES 173-74 (1987).
3. See AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASS'N, DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS: DSM IV 523-24 (1994).
4. See Janet Warren, et al., The Sexually Sadistic Serial Killer, 41 J. FORENSIC SCI. 970, 971 (1996).
5. See AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASS'N, supra note 3, at 523-24.
6. See, e.g., DAVID FINKELHOR, CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: NEW THEORY AND RESEARCH (1984).
7. See, e.g., SUSAN BROWNMILLER, AGAINST OUR WILL: MEN, WOMEN, AND RAPE (1975).
8. See, e.g., LEE ELLIS, THEORIES OF RAPE: INQUIRIES INTO THE CAUSES OF SEXUAL AGGRESSION 57 (1989); Richard B. Felson & Marvin Krohn, Motives for Rape, 27 J. RES. CRIME & DELINQ. 222, 222 (1990); Craig T. Palmer, Twelve Reasons Why Rape is Not Sexually Motivated: A Skeptical Examination, 25 3. SEX RES. 512, 516-19 (1988).
9. See, e.g., LEE ELLIS, THEORIES OF RAPE: INQUIRIES INTO THE CAUSES OF SEXUAL AGGRESSION 57 (1989); Richard B. Felson & Marvin Krohn, Motives for Rape, 27 J. RES. CRIME & DELINQ. 222, 222 (1990); Craig T. Palmer, Twelve Reasons Why Rape is Not Sexually Motivated: A Skeptical Examination, 25 3. SEX RES. 512, 516-19 (1988).
10. See, e.g., LEE ELLIS, THEORIES OF RAPE: INQUIRIES INTO THE CAUSES OF SEXUAL AGGRESSION 57 (1989); Richard B. Felson & Marvin Krohn, Motives for Rape, 27 J. RES. CRIME & DELINQ. 222, 222 (1990); Craig T. Palmer, Twelve Reasons Why Rape is Not Sexually Motivated: A Skeptical Examination, 25 3. SEX RES. 512, 516-19 (1988).
11. See Palmer, supra note 8, at 519.
12. See id.
13. See id.
14. See, e.g., Gene G. Abel et al., The Components of Rapists' Sexual Arousal, 34 ARCHIVES GEN. PSYCHIATRY 895 (1977); Bethany A. Lohr et al., Sexual Arousal to Erotic and Aggressive Stimuli in Sexually Coercive and Noncoercive Men, 106 J. ABNORMAL PSYCHOL. 230 (1997).
15. See, e.g., Gene G. Abel et al., The Components of Rapists' Sexual Arousal, 34 ARCHIVES GEN. PSYCHIATRY 895 (1977); Bethany A. Lohr et al., Sexual Arousal to Erotic and Aggressive Stimuli in Sexually Coercive and Noncoercive Men, 106 J. ABNORMAL PSYCHOL. 230 (1997).
16. See, e.g., ELLIS, supra note 8, at 22-23; FINKELHOR, supra note 6, at 34-35; Palmer, supra note 8.
17. See Marnie E. Rice et al., Sexual Recidivism Among Child Molesters Released From a Maximum Security Psychiatric Institution, 59 J. CONSULTING & CLINICAL PSYCHOL. 381, 381 (1991).
18. Kurt Freund, Therapeutic Sex Drive Reduction, 62 (Supp. 287) ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA 5, 5 (1980). But see Lucy Berliner, Sex Offenders: Policy and Practice, 92 NW. U. L. REV. 2003, nn.47-65 and accompanying text (1998) (arguing that treatment is effective for certain categories of paraphiliacs but not others).
19. Kurt Freund, Therapeutic Sex Drive Reduction, 62 (Supp. 287) ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA 5, 5 (1980). But see Lucy Berliner, Sex Offenders: Policy and Practice, 92 NW. U. L. REV. 2003, nn.47-65 and accompanying text (1998) (arguing that treatment is effective for certain categories of paraphiliacs but not others).
20. See Reinhard Wille & Klaus M. Beier, Castration in Germany, 2 ANNALS SEX RES. 105-09 (1989).
21. See Luk Gijs & Louis Gooren, Hormonal and Psychopharmacological Interventions in the Treatment of Paraphilias: An Update, 33 J. SEX RES. 273, 273 (1996).
22. See, e.g., GA. CODE ANN. § 16-6-4 (1997).
23. See Ariel Rösler & Eliezer Witztum, Treatment of Men with Paraphilia with a Long-Acting Analogue of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone, 338 NEW ENG. J. MED. 416, 416 (1998).
24. See id.
25. This contrasts with the official position of at least one organization concerned with the treatment of sex offenders. See Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, Position Statement on Anti-Androgen Therapy and Surgical Castration (visited November 12, 1998) 〈http://www.atsa.com/pages/policy/reducing.html〉.
26. See, e.g., Florence Thibaut et al., Gonadotrophin Hormone Releasing Hormone Agonist in Cases of Severe Paraphilia: A Lifetime Treatment?, 21 PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY 411, 411 (1996).
27. See V. CHENEY, IS CASTRATION EFFECTIVE? (1993); Freund, supra note 15, at 16-17; Wille & Beier, supra note 16, at 103 (reviewing the castration literature). The 11% figure, from Nikolaus Heim, Sexual Behavior of Castrated Sex Offenders, 10 ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 11 (1981), is, by far, the highest reported in the literature. There were only 39 offenders in the study. Small samples provide the poorest estimate of the true rate, and are more likely than larger samples to be inflated due to sampling error.
28. See V. CHENEY, IS CASTRATION EFFECTIVE? (1993); Freund, supra note 15, at 16-17; Wille & Beier, supra note 16, at 103 (reviewing the castration literature). The 11% figure, from Nikolaus Heim, Sexual Behavior of Castrated Sex Offenders, 10 ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 11 (1981), is, by far, the highest reported in the literature. There were only 39 offenders in the study. Small samples provide the poorest estimate of the true rate, and are more likely than larger samples to be inflated due to sampling error.
29. See supra note 16.
30. See Rice et al., supra note 14, at 381.
31. See Freund, supra note 15, at 17 (reviewing A. LANGELÜDDEKE, DIE ENTMANNUNG VON SITTLICHKEITSVERBRECHERN (1963)).
32. It would be possible, in principle, to request volunteers for castration just prior to scheduled release. We doubt that many sex offenders would agree to have the operation under that circumstance.
33. See, e.g., GEORG K. STÜRUP, CASTRATION: THE TOTAL TREATMENT, excerpted in H.L.P. RESNIK & MARVIN WOLFGANG, SEXUAL BEHAVIORS: SOCIAL, CLINICAL, AND LEGAL ASPECTS 182 (1972).
34. They may not invariably underestimate recidivism. Known sex offenders are sometimes arrested for sex offenses under ambiguous circumstances, due to the suspicion that any physical interaction with a child is sexually motivated. In some cases, they may be falsely accused or even convicted. See, e.g., Fred S. Berlin & H. Martin Malin, Media Distortion of the Public's Perception of Recidivism and Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 148 AM. J. PSYCHIATRY, 1572, 1573 (1991).
35. See Wille & Beier, supra note 16.
36. See id. at 125.
37. See id. at 127.
38. See id.
39. See id. at 128.
40. See Heim, supra note 23, at 13-16 tbls. I-IX.
41. Wille & Beier, supra note 16, at 128.
42. See AM. PSYCHIATRIC ASS'N, supra note 3, at 523-24.
43. See Rice et al., supra note 14.
44. See Wille & Beier, supra note 16.
45. See, e.g., FLA. STAT. chs. 921.0016, 921.0026 (1998); CAL. PENAL CODE § 502 (1998); OKLA. STAT. tit. 22, § 982 (1998).
46. A similar analysis would apply under the "sex predator" statutes recently enacted in several jurisdictions. See, for example, the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act, KAN. STAT. ANN. § 59-29a01 (1994), the constitutionality of which was confirmed by the United States Supreme Court in Kansas v. Hendricks, 117 S. Ct. 2072 (1997). Under these statutes, certain particularly dangerous sex offenders, after the expiration of their prison terms, may be confined in psychiatric institutions until they are found to no longer be dangerous. Although the analysis would be complicated by the fact that the period of confinement under such laws is indefinite, the argument for taking castration into account is strengthened by two factors. First, confinement in the institutions specified by these laws may be even more costly than confinement in prison. See Eric Janus, Foreshadowing the Future of Kansas v. Hendricks: Lessons from Minnesota's Sex Offender Commitment Litigation 92 NW. U. L. REV 1279. Second, statutes such as the Kansas act explicitly contemplate the release of individuals who are no longer dangerous. If, as we argue above, castration greatly reduces the dangerousness of sex offenders, it would appear that, even putting aside broad policy considerations, castration should, as a strictly legal matter, be a possible ground for release under these statutes.
47. See Andrew Vachhs, No: Pragmatically Impotent (Sex Offenders: Is Castration an Acceptable Punishment?). 78 A.B.A. J., July 1992, at 43.
48. See, e.g., GA. CODE ANN. § 16-6-4 (1997).