US lawmaker proposes to castrate sex offenders to save state money

New York, Jan 27 (ANI): A member of the Senate of Virginia, US, has proposed a bill to castrate sex offenders instead of confining them to costly state treatment programs.

Republican State Sen. Emmett Hanger's bill would have state agencies study whether Virginia should start castrating sex offenders instead of confining them to treatment programs after they get out of jail.

Hanger's critics call the idea barbaric, but he said it would save the state money and could provide a cure.

"I don't think it's radical at all," the New York Daily News quoted Hanger as saying.

"It's just something that's not typically the thing you want to bring up in polite conversation, but again the whole subject area is not for polite conversation.

"We're talking about people who are so driven because of the tendencies from the chemicals and the hormones inside their body to perform heinous acts," he stated.

The state's commitment program ballooned to 24 million dollars this year, up from 2.7 million dollars in 2004, and Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to spend 70 million dollars over the next two years.

Hanger's bill wants state agencies to study the option of physical castration, cutting off a man's testicles or removing a woman's ovaries. (ANI)