Legal Aspects of Surgical Castration

The use of surgical castration, whilst still legal in some European countries is now being practised only on a very small scale. This is largely due to the fact that many people have objections to the practice of surgically castrating offenders, especially if it is done against the offender's will. Even if consent is given there may be problems regarding whether this consent is truly free and informed (see below). Many regard the practice as barbaric and thus in contravention of a number of Articles contained within the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), including Article 3, Article 8 and Article 12. These issues will be addressed below.