Louisiana is the first state where courts can order people who have committed certain sex crimes against children to have surgery to make them male. This is because Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill into law on Tuesday.
Surgical castration is a punishment that is only used in the U.S. It is used in countries like the Czech Republic and Nigeria that are known for having stricter laws. The Associated Press learned on Friday from the governor’s office that Landry had signed the bill earlier in the week.
The Louisiana law goes into force on August 1. People who support it hope that the new possible punishment will stop people from committing sex crimes against children. People who are against it say that it is “cruel and unusual” treatment that goes against the U.S. Constitution. They say it will definitely be challenged in court.
Louisiana courts can choose to perform surgical castration on someone who has been found guilty of certain serious sex crimes against a child under 13 years old, such as rape, incest, or molestation. The sentence is not automatic; it depends on the specifics of the case and is up to the judge.
There are 2,224 people in Louisiana prison for these kinds of acts. It can only be used against people who were found guilty of a crime on or after August 1, 2018.
The states of Louisiana, California, Florida, and Texas are among those that have rules that allow chemical castration for people who have committed certain sex crimes. Offenders in some of those places can choose to have the surgery if they want to. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that no other state lets courts order surgical castration without a trial.
Judges in Louisiana have been able to order chemical castration of people guilty of certain sex crimes against children for 16 years, but this punishment is rarely given. Chemical castration lowers a man’s sex drive by stopping his body from making testosterone. Castration by surgery is a much more thorough process in which both the testicles and the ovaries are removed.
For those who “fail to appear or refuse to undergo” surgical castration after a judge orders it, they could be charged with “failure to comply” and get an extra three to five years in prison, according to the bill’s language.
Both houses, which are controlled by Republicans, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill. The bill was written by Democrat State Sen. Regina Barrow, but most of the votes against it came from Democrats.
At a committee meeting in April, Barrow said, “We are talking about babies who are being abused by someone.” “That is not acceptable.”
People who support the move say that the punishment is fair for horrible crimes against children. Critics say that the state should focus on helping people who have been convicted of these crimes get better in order to lower the number of people who commit these crimes again.
Some people are worried that more states might try to pass a rule like Louisiana’s, and they question whether or not such actions are legal. Philosopher Katrina Sifferd of Elmhurst University said that the U.S. has decided that revenge punishment, or “an eye for an eye,” is cruel and unusual.
She said, “We don’t rape rapists.” “We don’t cut thieves’ hands off.”
This is one of several controversial bills that Landry signed this week. Others are being challenged in court, such as one that lets police jail people who enter the U.S. illegally, which is similar to a law in Texas.
Republican states and Democratic President Joe Biden have been arguing about how to keep the border between the US and Mexico safe. If the Supreme Court upholds the Texas law, Louisiana’s law will make it possible for local officials as well as federal ones to enforce immigration laws. Also, it makes “illegal entry or reentry” into the state a crime and sets punishments like jail time and fines of thousands of dollars.