MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSVN) — Alabama lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow courts to order chemical castration for someone convicted of a sex crime against a child under the age of 13.
Alabama House Bill 379 was passed by both the House and Senate and is now headed to the desk of the state’s governor.
If signed into law, the bill would require suspects convicted of a sex offense involving a person under the age of 13 to undergo chemical castration as a condition of their parole.
The procedure would be administered by the Department of Public Health.
The parolee would be required to pay for the cost of the procedure as well.
Those who refuse to undergo the procedure would be in violation of their parole and would be taken back into custody. The treatment would begin a month before the inmate is released and will continue until the court orders it complete.
The bill was introduced by State Rep. Steve Hurst.
“They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the crime,” Hurst told WIAT.
Attorney Raymond Johnson told WIAT that the bill would likely be challenged under the Eighth Amendment, citing it as cruel and unusual punishment.
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