26 Mar 2019

American Samoa push for castration of sex offenders

2:30 pm on 26 March 2019

With a spike in the number of sex offences in American Samoa, especially those against young children, there has been a call for chemical castration of offenders.

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Photo: 123rf

The territorial senator, Tauaa S. Vaouli, introduced legislation, which would require convicted sex offenders to undergo the procedure.

The US-based non-profit group, US Legal, said chemical castration was the use of drugs designed to reduce desire for sexual activity.

It also called chemical castration an ideal punishment for sex offenders.

The American Samoa Attorney General's Office reported 38 sexual crimes were filed with their office in 2017 and 88 cases in 2018.

The legislation said for every one case filed with the police and the attorney general's office, there were many more cases that "were never reported".

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