How would chemical castration for sex offenders work?

Some rapists and child abusers may face mandatory chemical castration under the biggest shake-up of UK sentencing laws for three decades.

As part of an attempt to tackle the "overcrowding crisis" in prisons, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to expand the use of the controversial practice for sex offenders, including paedophiles, said the BBC.

What did the commentators say?

Chemical castration is one of the alternatives to custodial sentences raised in the Independent Sentencing Review, which was commissioned by the government and led by David Gauke, the former Conservative justice secretary.

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The "root and branch" review has produced a 192-page "blueprint for ending the prisons crisis and cutting reoffending and reducing overall crime rates", said The Times.

Specifically, Gauke recommended the continuation of a small voluntary pilot in the Southwest of England, where 34 prisoners receive a monthly dose of libido-suppressing chemicals.

However, this has been "rejected as too soft" by Mahmood, who "wants to go further" said The Sun. The pilot will be expanded to 20 prisons ahead of a "planned roll-out nationwide", while Mahmood considers the "feasibility" of compulsory chemical castration.

"For too long", said a government source, ministers have "turned a blind eye" to the threat that sex offenders pose, regarding the solutions as "too difficult or unpalatable". But Mahmood "isn't squeamish about doing what it takes to protect the public" and she'll "grab this problem by the proverbials".

Compulsory chemical castration would be "very controversial", said The Telegraph. The government would have to "overturn" long-standing legal and medical conventions.

During chemical castration, a person either takes pills or is injected with medication that reduces, inhibits or blocks the production of testosterone. There's no guarantee that it will completely diminish a person's sexual urges, and once a person stops taking the drugs, the effects can be reversed.

Mandatory chemical castration for certain sex offenders is already used in Poland and some US states, and the Ministry of Justice "pointed to research" showing that they can "cut reoffending rates by up to 60%", said The Times.

But there are "doubts about its effectiveness in preventing re-offending", said Politico. Experts have warned of "physical and psychological side effects" and feminist groups said that violent sex crimes such as rape are not powered by "unstoppable sexual urges", but "cultural factors".

What next?

"The government is expected to accept some of the key measures in principle, with further detail to follow in a future sentencing bill," said the BBC, but "no timeline" has been set for deciding whether to make chemical castration mandatory.

Another government trial, which will look at whether a common form of antidepressant can "significantly cut" sexual urges, will begin in July. Set to run for four years, it will involve the participation of 196 prisoners with "problematic sexual preoccupation", said The Independent.