To prevent rape and harassment incidents, the proposal of the ruling partner League Party was accepted. It was decided to establish a technical committee to evaluate chemical castration punishment against rape and child molesters.

The proposal for chemical castration in Italy was first brought to the agenda after the mass rape incidents that took place in the cities of Palermo and Naples last year and attracted public reaction when they emerged one after the other.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League Party, who was one of the first people to bring the chemical castration punishment to the agenda in the country and who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure in the right-wing coalition government, shared a post on the X platform on the subject.

Salvini said, “The victory of the League. The agenda decision, which stipulates that the government should immediately establish a commission or a technical committee to evaluate chemical castration in crimes of sexual violence, was approved in the Parliament. Another important step forward in our historical struggle for justice and common sense: “Zero tolerance for rapists and pedophiles,” he said.

The study, which will be carried out by the committee under the control of the government, will evaluate the possibilities of approving psychiatric and pharmacological treatment, including chemical castration, for criminals convicted of rape.

Main opposition Democratic Party (PD) Deputy Simona Bonafe argued that the proposal to establish a technical committee for chemical castration was unconstitutional.

The countries where it is legal

Chemical castration, it is worth remembering, is not a real surgical castration with removal of the testicles but consists of the administration of anti-androgen drugs which reduce testosterone levels, thus limiting libido and sexual activity. It is a technique criticised for its consequences. It has no permanent effects, so much so that if you suspend the treatment, you return to the starting condition, but it can have serious side effects such as loss of bone mass, weight gain, depression, and erectile dysfunction.

In the United States, chemical castration for those convicted of sex crimes is legal in at least 8 states, from California to Florida.  It is nothing new in Europe either: it is in force in France, Estonia, Moldova and North Macedonia. And again, in the United Kingdom since 2007 when the then Labor Home Secretary John Reid passed a law that allowed it voluntarily, while since 2009, it has been foreseen in Poland for paedophiles. Even in South Korea, since 2011, judges have been able to impose it on rapists of children under 16, while in Indonesia, a 2016 law allows it for paedophiles, and at the end of 2020, the clinical procedures for its implementation were defined. India and Pakistan are also considering introducing it, respectively, together with life imprisonment and as an alternative to capital punishment. In Russia, a 2011 law allows it to be prescribed to those who abuse children under 14. In short, although controversial, chemical castration is becoming an increasingly widespread tool in the fight against sexual crime.