Proper Punishment for Sex Offenders

It has taken me a bit longer than expected to become acclimated to a 8:30 to 5:30 working schedule, plus about 1 ½ hours of vexing commute everyday. As I have mentioned before, the daily routine of completing rather mechanical tasks is thwarting my creative growth. Still, my grey matter manages to espouse a few interesting ideas from time to time. Lately, I've been considering what the appropriate punishment for convicted sex offenders should be, and the conclusion that I have reached may be controversial for some.

The issue of pedophile predators taking advantage of children through using the internet has been very prevalent on the news. Many of those criminals are repeat offenders who had been jailed and released. When interviewed, most of those men claim their sexual urges are what drive them to commit acts of sexual crime time after time. It appears that neither prison time nor counseling is effective in deterring them acting out on those urges. The fact that so many of them are left unchecked under the current rule of law is unconscionable.

Speaking from a male perspective, I believe that men's sexual instincts are indeed extremely powerful. If a boy did not grow up with the proper discipline and positive education around him, then as he matures into a man, his sex drive may very well run amok and lead him to perpetrate heinous crimes. Even for those men who are highly educated and intelligent, there's still absolutely no guarantee they can keep their instincts in check, either, case and point, Bill Clinton. So strong is the male urge, the worst thing one can do is to deny it or constantly surpress it, instead of channeling it. It didn't do all those Catholic priests any good. Eventually the dam will break if all you do is blocking the surging currents.

Maybe we have to blame evolution for this unfortunate state of men. In any case, I don't see any other way for society to control these dangerous criminals' sexual cravings except for using punitive chemical castration. Sex, afterall, is not essential for preserving the right to life. One can argue that it is an important part of the right to pursuit happiness, but if you deprive someone's opportunity to experience happiness through a criminal act, you forfeit your own right to do the same. If only all the legislators and courts would agree that it is not cruel and unusual punishment.