Not to be outdone by forcing public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry signed another new bill this week legalizing the state-sponsored surgical castration as an un-cruel and totally usual punishment for certain sex offenders. From The Advocate:
Under Louisiana's new castration law, those eligible for such a punishment must have been convicted of one of the most serious sex offenses, and their victims must have been under 13. Eligible offenses include rape, incest and molestation.
[…]
Offenders who receive such a sentence may refuse the procedure, in which case they would face an additional three to five years in prison.
The Advocate specifically notes that the law applies to men and women. You might be thinking, wait: isn't female genital mutilation a uniquely horrifying human rights violation that is all-but-universally frowned upon? A fair point! But, as Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Black representative from Baton Rouge, rightly point out to the legislature:
Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, who tried unsuccessfully to reroute the bill, also objected to its "historical context" and what he believes is the likelihood the punishment will be handed down inordinately to Black men. Jordan, who is Black, compared the measure with what were often unwarranted lynchings and castrations of Black men during the Jim Crow era.
"Who does this affect most?" Jordan asked lawmakers. "I know it's race neutral. I know we say it can apply to anybody, but we all know who it affects."
Louisiana is one of eleven US states where chemical castration was already legal; yet the state has only performed one chemical castration in the last decade, despite reportedly having a population of more than two thousand sex offenders currently incarcerated.
Jeff Landry signs bill allowing surgical castration of some sex offenders [Meghan Friedmann / The Advocate]
