A highly controversial Italian minister has once again suggested that sexual offenders should be castrated on a voluntary and thus preventive basis.
Speaking in the wake of several high-profile rapes allegedly committed by foreigners, Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli said "we need chemical castration now, not as punishment but above all as a deterrent and thus as a preventive measure."
"It must be totally on a voluntary basis, based on a request from the attorney of an inmate, convicted on several charges of sexual abuse on minors, who voluntarily seeks to be subjected to chemical castration.
The minister said he would immediately ask Justice Minister Roberto Castelli to take the necessary legislative and administrative steps to allow voluntary chemical castration for inmates.
Both Calderoli and Castelli are leading members of the separatist Northern League party which campaigns for an independent Northen Italy, has called the goverment institutes in Rome"liars" and "thiefs", and recently since they have been part of the goverment have been campaigning for tighter controls on immigration (including gunning down boats of migrants) and greater regional powers in combating crime.
"The recent wave of sexual violence and abuse have made it necessary to deal with this problem of law and order with the utmost urgency," Calderoli said.
"We must do away with the bleeding heart approach of the Left and the Catho-Communists. These delinquents must be stopped and put away and this must be done not only with serious laws but also by overcoming the lack of collaboration by those who are called to administer justice but who are conditioned by their ideological inclinations."
Earlier this year, Calderoli said that "Chemical castration may seem frightening but it's already used in the US and some European countries; there's nothing shocking about it."
"However, while this treatment might be sufficient for those who assault adults, rapists of children should be surgically castrated," he added.
Chemical castration, which is only temporary, is used in parts of the US, Sweden, Germany and Denmark as a preventive
measure and punishment for repeated sex crimes, such as rape and child molestation.
The treatment, which requires regular injections, works by lowering testosterone production. Studies have suggested that chemical castration can cut repeat offences from 75% to 2% but there have been numerous instances of paedophiles carrying out attacks while receiving the treatment.
