TVScope: Chemical Castration Channel 4, Thursday, 10.35pm
Earlier this summer, the then British home secretary John Reid announced that anti-depressants would be offered to some paedophiles on an experimental basis to help them control their sexual urges following their release from prison.
The move is one of a number of measures which will include enabling parents to find out if a person involved with their children has a conviction for sex offences.
The effect of anti-depressant therapy will be monitored over a period of time before a decision is made as to whether to extend its use.
Anti-depressants such as Prozac can result in loss of libido and a reduction in obsessive thinking. It is with those sex offenders who have an obsessive compulsive disorder that it is most likely to be effective - but some experts maintain that only 10 per cent of sex offenders fall into this category.
This treatment has been dubbed chemical castration in the British media. The term is more accurately used to describe the use of the drug Lupron to reduce sex drive and obsessive thoughts. In the US, the use of Lupron is on the increase in prisons but remains controversial.
Some experts maintain that it does not reduce sex drive sufficiently and simply offers offenders a way to get out of prison earlier than would otherwise be the case.
Lupron also increases the risk of osteoporosis - though this may not be a particular concern to people outraged by the behaviour of sex offenders.
In this excellent Channel 4 documentary, convicted paedophiles in several US maximum security hospitals and prisons spoke of their experiences with chemical and surgical castration. Fred Hoffman, who has spent 20 years of his life in prison for paedophile offences, says the use of Lupron has removed his fantasies and origins in relation to young boys.
Sixty-two-year-old offender Greg Grant found the same. But because he already had osteoporosis it was thought too dangerous for his health to continue him on the treatment. So Grant had himself surgically castrated.
Needless to say, parents remain unhappy about the prospect of paedophiles being released into the community even following chemical or surgical castration. Indeed, a urologist who carries out surgical castrations expressed the view that while the procedure helps people to be more at peace with themselves it does not make them safe for release into the community.
There is still no definitive research to show whether these approaches work. In an Irish context, unfortunately, it all seems rather academic. We have a few psychological treatment programmes for sex offenders but these remain small scale - even though such programmes can be successful and are well worth providing.
I didn't really want to watch this programme but it turned out to be an excellent documentary - well made, without hysteria. All the same, I could have done without the grisly footage of a surgical castration.