The surgical castration of detained sex offenders amounts to degrading treatment

In its report on its recent visit to the Czech Republic, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of the Council of Europe calls for an immediate stop to the surgical castration of detained sex offenders on the basis that this intervention, carried out comparatively frequently in the Czech Republic, "amounts to degrading treatment".This evaluation should have repercussions on respective activities in Germany and other countries where surgical castration is still used in the treatment of sex offenders. This paper therefore reports data on the use of surgical castration with sex offenders in Germany from the last decade and outlines shifts in the validation of its use during recent German history.