阉割往往不能阻止性犯罪.doc

Castration often fails to halt offenders
阉割往往不能阻止罪犯
Sometimes a good idea is ill-conceived.
有时候一个好想法会变成规划不周的政策。
When I first heard that some states were mandating castration for repeat sex offenders, I thought it was a good idea. If these predators can't control themselves, why not have a doctor do it for them? There was a time when castration was a brutal act of physical mutilation. But now it can be done with a series of injections, or by simply removing the testicles and leaving the rest of the male plumbing intact.
当我第一次听说有些州授权对强奸惯犯实行阉割，曾一度以为这是一个好主意。既然这些罪犯不能自控，何不让医生们来帮他们控制自己？在历史上阉割曾是一种残忍的肉体残害，但是现在阉割可以通过一系列注射，或仅仅切除睾丸而保全其他男性生殖系统来实现。
Given (what) the damage rapists and other sexual predators do to their victims, that sounded harmless enough to me. But when I read in an Orlando newspaper last month that a Florida judge ordered a first-time rapist to undergo chemical castration after he completes a 20-year sentence, I began to question the wisdom of how this issue is being handled. In the Florida case, the judge, fearing that the man would still be a threat after his imprisonment, ruled he'd have to take regular injections to reduce his sex drive during a 10-year probation period.
考虑到强奸犯和其他性犯罪者对他们的受害人造成的伤害，我觉得阉割听起来已经够轻了。但是上个月的一天，当我在一份奥兰多报纸上读到一位佛罗里达法官判处一名强奸初犯接受化学阉割，而且还是在判处他有期徒刑20年之后的情况下，我开始不由怀疑这种刑罚具体是如何被掌控的。在这个案子里，法官担心这个犯人在有期徒刑之后仍会对社会造成威胁，判处他必须在将来10年的缓刑期里接受定期的注射来消除性欲。（也就是说，10年之内的表现良好可以换取不再服刑）

But what happens after those 10 years, or if the offender stops taking the treatment? In another case, Joseph Frank Smith, a sex offender who voluntarily underwent chemical castration nearly 2 decades ago, pleaded guilty in 1998 to another sexual assault, this time on a 5-year-old Virginia girl. At the time, his lawyer said he thought Smith was no longer taking the chemical treatments.
但是这10年过去之后又会怎样呢，或者如果罪犯停止接受治疗呢？在另一个案例中，乔瑟夫·法兰克·史密斯，一名在20年前主动接受化学阉割的性犯罪者，又在1998年一宗对5岁维吉尼亚幼女性的侵犯案中认罪。这次他的律师说据他所知史密斯已经停止接受化学注射了（才会再次犯罪）。
Prisoners opt for procedure 服刑者拥有的关于治疗的选择
Like Smith, who served no time for the earlier offense, other sex predators are opting for castration to avoid or lessen a prison sentence. Last year, a 25-year-old pedophile avoided prison time for sexual offenses on two young girls after a different Florida judge ordered him to take chemical castration treatments for life. And in California, the first state to mandate castration for some sex offenders, at least 15 inmates have asked to undergo castration in the hope that it would increase their chances of being set free.
就像（因选择阉割而）未对之前罪行服刑过一天的史密斯，其他性犯罪者可以选择接受化学阉割来避免或减少监禁时间长度。去年，一名对2名幼女犯下性罪行的25岁恋童癖在被另一名佛罗里达州发法官要求终身接受化学阉割之后，免去了在监狱服刑。
There's something wrong with this picture.这种情况存在问题
While lawmakers in a growing number of states are enacting legislation to mandate castration for sex offenders, a surprising number of sexual predators are clamoring to undergo this procedure. The politicians are driven, no doubt, by the public's gnawing fear of crime, even as crime rates nationally are declining. But what is it that pushes sexual predators to want to give up their virility? I suspect it's that they understand better than the rest of us that rape and most other sexual offenses have little to do with sex — and more to do with physical domination.
越来越多州的立法者立法授权对性犯罪者的阉割的同时，一群数量惊人的罪犯正强烈要求接受这种处罚。毫无疑问，政客们受到了大众对罪犯的焦虑恐惧之情的挟持，而无视国家犯罪率正在下降的事实。但是到底是什么驱使着性犯罪者想要主动放弃生殖能力？我想是因为他们比我们大多数人都了解，强奸和大部分其他性犯罪与性本身没什么联系——而更多与体力上的支配地位有关。
Castration isn't likely to stop a sex offender from preying on people. It will only change the way these predators go about their crimes. As Florida prosecutor Jerry Burford told the St. Petersburg Times: "I get a lot of people who are impotent that still commit sexual battery. It's not their gonads that cause them to commit sexual battery. It's their heads."
阉割并不太可能会阻止性犯罪者侵犯更多的人。它只会改变犯罪者们实施犯罪的方式。就像佛罗里达检察官杰瑞·巴佛接受圣彼得堡时报采访时说的：“我知道很多性无能者一样实施性犯罪。并不是他们的睾丸导致他们犯下性罪行，而是他们的思想
A better alternative 一个更好的选择
Instead of dumping such sexual predators into prison for long periods of time or forcing them to undergo chemical castration, judges should commit them to high-security mental facilities where they can get psychiatric help in combination with drugs to reduce their sex drives. While chemical castration can turn off a predator's physical urges for a time, psychological counseling is needed to suppress the mental addiction that drives their deviant behavior.
相比于把这些性犯罪者长期关在监狱里或强制他们接受化学阉割，法官们应该为他们提供高安全性的心理治疗场所，在这里他们可以获得心理帮助，辅以药物治疗，来减少性冲动的驱使。相比于化学阉割只能一时消除犯罪者的生理欲求，我们更需要心理咨询来平息真正造成他们犯罪行为的心理成瘾。
But don't expect this to happen. For most politicians, the financial cost of such a fix is too great and the political return is too small. Most people care little about what happens to criminals once they are locked away. While taking sexual predators off the streets is an obsession of many folks, few people care about the criminals' need for psychiatric therapy.
但是不要指望这一切的发生。对于大多数政客，这种手段的经济成本太高而政治反响太小。一旦罪犯们被锁在高墙之内，大多数人们便不再关心他们的情况。大多数民众只是热衷于把性犯罪者从街道上移除（把他们关起来眼不见为净），很少有人关心罪犯对心理治疗的需求。
Without such help, sexual predators are doomed to repeat their crimes. Lawmakers who think that castration alone will change this outcome are fooling themselves — and the people who put them in office.
没有心理治疗，性犯罪者注定会重蹈覆辙。认为阉割能改善现状的立法者只是在自欺欺人—也在欺骗把他们选入政府机关的人民。