Punishing The Penis

Although specific body parts don’t usually take on a life of their own to commit crimes, it seems that authorities are targeting the penis.

Recently in Bangladesh, a village council beat a man and forced him to tie a brick to his penis and walk around in front of 200 people after they found out he kidnapped and married a minor by force (who later escaped).

There’s no doubt this is a crime that deserves punishment, but we have to question the arbitrary and barbaric methods used by a council whose involvement is considered unlawful in the first place. Village courts are “only empowered to settle disputes related to land ownership, inheritance and other minor issues.”

But even if they were permitted to punish perpetrators in whatever fashion they saw fit, humiliation tactics and torture are inhumane. They may give us a momentary sense of satisfaction that justice has been served, but these acts just fuel a vicious cycle of violence.

In South Korea, the Justice Ministry has just announced that authorities can now practice “chemical castration” on convicted pedophiles. Again, this is definitely a case where punishment is due. However, as much as the seriousness of the crime should be recognized, what can we possibly gain from resorting to such practices?

Maybe those who commit sex crimes simply cannot be rehabilitated, but I’m just not sure about taking the time and effort to go through with a chemical castration if they’re already locked up in a penitentiary. Robbing pedophiles of their libidos by administering chemicals may be a fitting punishment, but this doesn’t make it less of a controversial and unethical practice.

It’s time we get away from the “hit them where it hurts most” mentality and pool our efforts to figure out ways to prevent these serious crimes from happening in the first place.

Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com