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(Radio Iowa) A bill to establish surgical castration as a penalty for sex offenders convicted of abusing a child was introduced in the Iowa House this year, but will go no further. Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says 96 percent of children who are assaulted know their attacker. “Research has shown that the more harsh the penalty, the less likely a family is to report that,” Campbell said. It appears the Czech Republic, Nigeria and the state of Louisiana are the only jurisdictions that have laws allowing surgical castration of convicted sex offenders.

Lisa Davis Cook, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Justice, says the policy could set the state of Iowa down a dangerous path.”This is giving the government the ability to surgically alert someone’s body,” Davis Cook says, “and we kind of wonder: ‘Where does that stop?'”

Iowa is among 11 states where those convicted of serious sex crimes against children may be sentenced to undergo a type of hormonal therapy referred to as chemical castration. The Iowa law was passed in 2003 and was for a variety of convictions of sex abuse, assault or exploitation of a child under the age of 12.