The bill, which passed the lower house in March, was approved by 145 senators, with two abstentions. It still requires another vote in the house and then royal assent. Of the 16,413 convicted sex offenders released from Thai prisons between 2013 and 2020, there were 4,848 who reoffended, according to corrections department data. Under the bill, some sex offenders deemed at risk of reoffending may be able to receive injections that lower their testosterone levels in exchange for less jail time, provided they have the approval of two doctors. Offenders will be monitored for 10 years and must wear electronic monitoring bracelets, according to the bill. If approved, Thailand would join a small group of countries that use chemical castration, including Poland, South Korea, Russia and Estonia, as well as some US states. “I want this law to pass quickly,” said Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin. “I don’t want to see news about bad things happening to women again,” she said. Jaded Chouwilai, director of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, a non-governmental organization that deals with sexual violence among others, said the use of chemical castration will not address sex crime. “Convicts should be rehabilitated by changing their mindset while in prison,” he said. “The use of punishment such as execution or injection castration reinforces the idea that the offender can no longer be rehabilitated.”
