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The
bill, which the lower house passed in March, was approved late
on Monday by 145 senators, with two abstentions. It still
requires another house vote, then royal endorsement.
Of 16,413 convicted sex offenders released from Thai prisons
between 2013 and 2020, there were 4,848 who re-offended,
according to corrections department figures.
Under the bill, certain sex offenders deemed at risk of
re-offending may be given the option to receive injections that
reduce their testosterone levels, in return for shorter jail
time, providing they have approval of two doctors.
The offenders would be monitored for 10 years and be required to
wear electronic monitoring bracelets, according to the bill.
If approved, Thailand would join a small group of countries that
use chemical castration, among them Poland, South Korea, Russia
and Estonia, plus some U.S. states.
"I want this law to pass quickly," Justice Minister Somsak
Thepsuthin said on Tuesday. "I don't want to see news about bad
things happening to women again," he said.
Jaded Chouwilai, director of the Women and Men Progressive
Movement Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that
addresses sexual violence, among other areas, said use of
chemical castration would not tackle sex crime.
"Convicts should be rehabilitated by changing their mindset
while in prison," he said.
"To use punishment like execution or injected castration
reinforces the idea that offender can no longer be
rehabilitated."
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing
by Martin Petty)
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