By state political reporter Ashleigh Raper
Voluntary chemical castration will be an option for sex offenders seeking parole, under a suite of changes to the justice system announced by the New South Wales Government.
The Government has announced measures that aim to make the court system quicker and strengthen sentencing options.
Under the changes, convicted sex offenders can volunteer to take libido-supressing drugs as part of their parole.
Police Minister Troy Grant said he would like to see it go further.
“If I had my way, I would take their nuts off, but this is the appropriate way,” Mr Grant said.
“This is a step in the right direction to make sure that the kids in our community will be safe from those predators.”
The Government is also introducing changes including a structure of sentence discounts to encourage earlier guilty pleas and abolishing suspended sentences in favour of programs that offer more supervision in the community.
Greens concerned about inflammatory comments
Greens MLC David Shoebridge described the Minister’s comments as inflammatory.
“I think it’s very troubling if we are going to be going down the path of effectively going back to the 18th, 17th century where we are looking at corporal punishment or in the words of the Police Minister actually physically dismembering convicted offenders,” he said.
Mr Shoebridge said his party would review the legislation.
“If the proposition is put to a convicted offender you can either rot in jail for the rest of your natural life or you can voluntarily, so to speak, accept chemical castration well then that won’t be voluntary at all,” he said.
The State Government is introducing a “no body, no parole” policy where the Parole Authority can decide to deny murderers parole if the victim’s body has not been found.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley is calling for the policy to be mandatory.
“Why should somebody who has been convicted of murder and refused to tell us where they put the body be eligible for parole at all?” he said.
“You should just not be eligible for parole.”
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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