The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution gives Americans the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. However, one Alabama lawmakerhas proposed a bill that would certainly seem to test the limits of the Eighth Amendment.
Alabama state Representative Steve Hurst introduced HB 365, which, if passed, would require surgical castration of any adult aged 21 or older convictedof a sex crime against a child aged 12 or younger.
Hurst has proposed similar bills in the past, but those have not come to fruition. When questioned about the appropriateness of such a law, Hurst claims that the punishment fits the crime:
"I had people call me in the past when I introduced it and said don�t you think this is inhumane? I asked them what�s more inhumane than when you takea little infant child, and you sexually molest that infant child when the child cannot defend themselves or get away, and they have to go through allthe things they have to go through. If you want to talk about inhumane�that�s inhumane."
Certainly, he has his supporters, but there are also those who say that it is one thing to put a sex offender in prison for years and quite anotherto "physically mutilate" someone.
Hurst says that his bill, if passed, would make would-be sex offenders "think twice" before committing a crime against children.
But would castration really have any effect at all on preventing sexual abuse or child molestation? Currently, in Oklahoma, the maximum penalty fora sex crime against a child under the age of 12 is life in prison and lifetime sex offender registration. If that isn't enough to make someone"think twice," strengthening the penalty by adding surgical castration will do nothing to reduce the rate of sex crimes against children. It isn'tas if most people convicted of sex offenses go through a risk-benefit analysis prior to committing a crime. Instead, these acts are often fueledby a lack of impulse control coupled with a belief that one won't get caught. Frequently, the perpetrator of a crime will rationalize his or heracts and even come up with mitigating reasons that it "isn't that bad."
Adding cruel and unusual punishment will certainly increase the punitive nature of the justice system, but it will do nothing to protect the safetyof our nation's children.
