"Argentina province OKs chemical castration for rapists"

The title of this post is the headline of this recent CNN piece.  Here are the details (with emphasis added by me on one key aspect of this story):

Officials in Argentina's Mendoza province have authorized chemical castration for rapists after a significant increase in sexual assaults last year. Mendoza authorities convened a scientific legal committee and authorized the voluntary chemical castration by decree.

"By using medication that lowers the person's sexual desire and with psychological treatment, the person can be reintroduced into society without being a threat," Mendoza Governor Celso Jaque said. Eleven convicted rapists in the province have agreed to the treatment in return for reduced sentences.

Several members of the legal committee said the treatment must be voluntary or it would violate international law and Argentina's constitution....

The term "chemical castration" is a misnomer because the practice involves medication, not surgical intervention. Its effectiveness also stops when treatment is discontinued.

The practice in Mendoza follows measures adopted in several European countries and eight U.S. states: California, Florida, Georgia, Montana, Oregon, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Iowa. Depending on the success of the program in Mendoza, the rest of Argentina could follow suit, officials said.

Though I suspect there could be considerable support for broader use of chemical castration for sex offenders in the United States, I wonder if folks would support shorter prison terms in conjunction with this use of a punishment alternative.  Similarly, I fear that folks who complain about some prison sentences being too long would also complain about chemical castration being a means to bring down prison terms for certain sex offenders.

Some older and newer related posts on chemical castration:

• Isn't chemical castration worth trying if it works?
• "Killing puts 'castration' on French agenda"
• Alabama legislators discussing castration and other novel punishments for sex offenders
• Are there reliable data on the efficacy of chemical castration?
• "Europeans Debate Castration of Sex Offenders"
•  Huff Post commentary urging stiffer sentences and chemical castration for sex offenders