RT Journal
T1 Asexualization: A follow-up study of 244 cases
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1959
FD August 8
VO 170
IS 15
SP 1875
OP 1875
DO 10.1001/jama.1959.03010150119029
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1959.03010150119029
AB From time to time through the years someone comes up with the suggestion that sexual criminals, or persons who might become such because of uncontrollable sexual urges, ought to be castrated. It is not always clear whether the suggestion has in mind the protection of the public or the penalizing of the individual, but the suggestion is made nevertheless. The practice of castrating criminals has never become popular in the United States and, in fact, in no state is it a legal procedure. It is legal in a number of European countries, however, and this book reports on a series of 244 sex offenders who were castrated under the Norwegian law between 1935 and 1949. The study analyzes in detail the changes in physical and psychic states, emotional reactions, and sexual life brought about in the 216 men and 28 women who were castrated under this law. Psychiatrists especially will