Norway set to castrate sex offenders

Norway is set to offer convicted sex offenders the option of chemical castration if they want the procedure, it was reported today.

The treatment blocks the effects of the male hormone testosterone, deadening a person’s sex drive and ability.

Four men, all convicted of rape or sexual abuse, have volunteered and have been cleared to receive the treatment, psychologist Jim Aage Noettestad told an Oslo newspaper.

“The four have gone through six months of group therapy and we are ready to start the hormone treatments,” said the chief psychologist for the Boeler Regional Security Department in Trondheim.

The goal of the programme is to try and lower the chance that the men could commit more sexual offences. They will not be released early while undergoing treatment.