A Clinical Review of Chemical Castration Against Sex Offenders for Children / 대한정신약물학회지

ABSTRACT

In the past, physical castration was adopted to punish sex offenders and prevent the recurrence of sexual crimes. However, it was abrogated because of human right issues and the irreversibility of fertility. Chemical castration of depot injection with hormones was introduced as an alternative method of physical castration. Antiandrogen is the most frequently used hormonal agents. Although there are several positive results such as changes of sexual behaviors and decrease of the recurrence rate of sexual crime after hormonal treatment, it also has serious limitations; difficulties in academic evaluation for control group and placebo effect; difficulties in the assessment of the therapeutic effect; and difficulties to decide the proper duration of treatment. Although the law for chemical castration to control sexual impulses in sex offenders was enforced since July, 2011 in Korea, there are not enough resources for treatment. We reviewed the appropriate references and suggested continuous long-term follow-up studies.