Is Castration The Right Punishment For Rapists?

EKOHOTBLOG, 2nd December, 2020

In Nigeria, rape is prevalent. From January to May 2020, we recorded 717 rape cases. One rape case was also reported every five hours.

To curb this menace, governors in all 36 states resolved to declare a state of emergency over rape. Kaduna state, governor Nasir El-Rufai took a step further and signed the State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020, which provides surgical castration for male rapists and bilateral salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tubes) for females convicted of child rape. This law provides that “whoever commits rape of a child below the age of fourteen (14) years shall on conviction, be punished with surgical castration and death.”

A lot of people applauded this movement, but I can’t help but wonder if the governor is doing the right thing. Is castration the best way to deal with rapists? Yes, rape is barbaric and rapists should be severely punished, still, are there no better ways to deal with rapists than to castrate them? I mean, this is 2020, yea? In solving problems, I see no reason why we should resort to acts that are archaic and no longer practiced in modern times. We shouldn’t fight barbarity with bestial actions.

Will Castration Work?

Castrating or removing the fallopian tubes of rapists is a knee-jerk reaction that fails to address the root causes of sexual violence and rape.

In most cases, sexual assault is not about sexual gratification or sexual interest, but more about dominance. For many, it is a show of power – the adrenaline they get when they hear the screams of their victims propels them. For some, it is revenge – punishment they mete out to their victims for refusing their advances.

Read Also: Davido Denies Mocking Recent Killings In The North

What Can be Done Instead?

Have better-trained policemen

There have been many reports of how policemen cover up rapists, harass the victims and force them to ‘settle the matter privately.’ In June 2020, a 32-year-old woman claimed that a policeman attached to the Sakpenwa Police Division raped her at gunpoint after arresting her for not wearing a nose mask. In Abuja, some women were raped by policemen who used pure water sachet as condoms. Even around law enforcement agents, there is a serious fear of being sexually molested.

This makes it very difficult for rape victims to report their ordeals to policemen. If we truly want to fight sexual violence in Nigeria, we have to have better-trained policemen who victims can run to when assaulted.

Set up a Better Judicial System

A report by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics said that Majority of prison population are inmates serving time without being sentenced. Some inmates are in prisons only due to the suspicion of having committed a crime, and not an actual conviction.

Our judicial system is a careless one; many innocent people are languishing in police cells while perpetrators of evil move freely. There’s every possibility that innocent people may be arrested as rapists and then castrated without a fair trial. While people who have been wrongly accused can be compensated – if they will ever be compensated – how do you return a man’s testicles after removing them? Until our judicial system is fixed, perhaps we shouldn’t start things we cannot finish.

Ensure Arrested Rapists are not Released

Rape is a serious issue and in a country where the police force seems incapable of monitoring past offenders and protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians, there is absolutely no reason why rapists should be let loose by policemen.

Sexual violence is not a ‘family matter’ that can be settled just like that. More often than not, sexual violators have always hunted down their victims after being released. If they cannot be charged to court or imprisoned, can they, at least, be sent to rehabilitation centers?