PROSECUTOR SAYS CHEMICAL NO CURE FOR SEX OFFENDERS

Chemically castrating repeat sex offenders won't stop them from committing violent crime, says Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle.

But victims' advocate Bettie Knoll of the Cape Girardeau Police Department believes chemical injections could help in some cases.

The hormone injections don't prevent men from having sex. Unlike surgical castration, chemical castration isn't permanent.

But most members of the Missouri House, including Southeast Missouri legislators, believe the injections could help keep sex offenders in check.

The House overwhelmingly passed such a measure Tuesday that would force persistent sex offenders to undergo chemical castration as a condition of parole.

The House passed the measure as an amendment to a Senate bill that aims to make it easier to convict individuals of spreading the AIDS virus.

Differences between the House and Senate bills must still be worked out by a conference committee.

Knoll said the chemical injections could help in cases involving sex crimes against children. In many of those cases, she said, the perpetrator is a family member and sexual gratification is the motivation for the crimes.

"I think it might be one more step to provide safety out here," said state Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson.

"I can't think of a single reason not to try it," said Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett.

Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, agreed. "This certainly doesn't solve all the problems, but it is a step in the right direction."

California, Georgia and Montana already require certain sex offenders to undergo chemical castration upon their release from prison. Several other states are considering such steps.

But Swingle doubts the effectiveness of such treatments.

"I believe that sex crimes are committed not just because of a sexual urge, but also because of a sociopath's interest in humiliating, degrading and terrorizing a victim," he said.

"Just because you have, by chemicals, eliminated a man's ability to perform a sex act does not mean that you are gong to cure him from being a sociopath who wants to hurt other people," Swingle said.

The prosecutor said he would prefer Missouri require persistent sex offenders to serve their full prison sentences rather than parole them.

Last year, the state paroled 131 sex offenders.

Many sex offenders repeat their crimes. Counseling doesn't help, Swingle said.

Swingle currently is prosecuting a 39-year-old man charged with the Nov. 11, 1996 sodomy of an elderly woman in her Cape Girardeau County home.

The man was convicted in 1976 of forcible rape in Scott County. He was paroled April 30, 1993 after serving 17 years of a 25-year prison term.

Swingle said society would have been better served had the sex offender been kept behind bars.

Chemical castrations could help reduce repeat offenses, say supporters of such treatments.

A study by Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University found a 4.5 percent recidivism rate among 109 sexual offenders who underwent chemical injections and counseling over five years.

The chemical treatment involves injections of a female hormone. It is designed to reduce levels of testosterone, the hormone linked to sexually aggressive behavior.

A three-times-convicted sexual offender would have to undergo the chemical treatment to be considered for parole, under the House measure.

A person convicted of a second sexual offense in which the victim was under the age of 14 also would be required to undergo the chemical injections as a condition for parole.

The state's parole board also could require the treatment for first-time offenders on a case by case basis.

In all cases, the parole board would determine when to end the treatment.