PAEDOPHILES and rapists are to face chemical castration.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is looking at plans to make it mandatory.
Paedophiles and rapists are to face chemical castration under a new Labour plan to get tough on sex offenders[/caption]
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is looking at plans to make chemical castration mandatory[/caption]
Studies have shown using drugs to dull sex urges can slash offending by up to 60 per cent.
A Government source said: “For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the threat sex offenders pose, considering the solutions too difficult or unpalatable.
“Shabana isn’t squeamish about doing what it takes to protect the public.
“As always, she will grab this problem by the proverbials.”
Recommendations by the Independent Sentencing Review to continue a small voluntary pilot in the South West have been rejected as too soft.
Instead it will be expanded to 20 prisons in England and Wales ahead of a planned roll-out nationwide.
But The Sun understands Ms Mahmood wants to go further and is exploring the feasibility of compulsory chemical castration.
Allies highlighted how US states such as California have castration as a mandatory condition for jailed sex offenders freed on parole.
And while ministers would start with jailed offenders, insiders say they will explore broadening the scheme to those given suspended sentences.
It marks a victory for The Sun’s Keep Our Kids Safe campaign to protect children against paedos.
Our demands also include mandatory jail sentences for those caught with the worst Category A images.
Many sex offenders currently seek chemical castration proactively.
It is voluntary in Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark.
Ms Mahmood has been won over by various studies, including one showing reoffending rates could be slashed by up to 60 per cent.
Chemical castration uses two drugs — selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to limit invasive sexual thoughts, and anti-androgens to reduce testosterone and limit libido.
Offenders are often given psychiatric sessions to reduce other impulses.
The plan is part of wider efforts to cut reoffending to ease the strain on packed prisons.
Inmates are already being released early to stop jails running out of space by November.
Ex-Tory minister David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review is expected to urge the increased use of suspended sentences, deportation of more foreign offenders and more community punishments.
He is also expected to recommend extending maximum suspended sentences from two to three years, and release after a third of sentences.
Plans to dramatically reduce number of people being locked up in major shake-up
THE Independent Sentencing Review has laid out a major shake-up of the justice system – with plans to dramatically reduce the number of people being locked up.
The Independent Sentencing Review has laid out a major shake-up of the justice system – with plans to dramatically reduce the number of people being locked up.
The move comes after the prison population soared past 87,000, with jails nearly running out of space last year.
One of the most controversial proposals is a ban on short jail terms under 12 months, except in what it calls “exceptional circumstances”.
Nearly 45,000 people were jailed for less than a year in the past 12 months alone – but under the new proposals, many would instead be handed so-called tougher community sentences.
These include curfews, unpaid work, or being forced to undergo rehab for drugs, alcohol or mental health problems.
The plans also push for new types of punishment, including bans from football matches – even for crimes that have nothing to do with football – and restrictions on social media use, particularly in cybercrime cases.
These measures, which are usually just bolt-ons to prison sentences, could now be used as punishments in their own right, without any jail time at all.
The review also calls for a new “Probation Requirement” to replace the current rehabilitation rules.
It says this would give probation officers more power to tailor punishments and support to each individual – from mental health support to being tagged and tracked in the community. But it admits this would place even more pressure on a probation system already stretched thin.
There are also plans to extend suspended sentence rules, meaning some offenders facing up to three years behind bars could now stay in the community instead – as long as they stay out of trouble.
Another major change is the introduction of a new “earned progression” system.
Under this plan, prisoners serving standard determinate sentences could be released after serving just a third of their time behind bars, as long as they behave well and take part in work, education or treatment programmes.
Those who fail to meet the standards would stay locked up until halfway through.
Ms Mahmood has been won over by various studies[/caption]
