Jeff Landry signs bill allowing surgical castration of some sex offenders

As Landry signed SB 371 in a ceremony at the Louisiana State Capitol, he sat beside Barrow and state Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans.

“This is a method for us to protect our children,” said Boyd, who proposed a bill this year that would have established vasectomies as a form of punishment for sex offenders. House Bill 166 passed the House but then stalled in a Senate committee, failing to make it to Landry’s desk.

Under Louisiana’s new castration law, those eligible for such a punishment must have been convicted of one of the most serious sex offenses, and their victims must have been under 13. Eligible offenses include rape, incest and molestation.

In Louisiana, chemical castration was already a legal form of punishment for some sex offenders.

Barrow pitched her bill as a way to prevent rape. But the measure received pushback from Black male legislators, who said castration has historically been used in lynchings of Black men in the United States.

The punishment could apply to men and women. Female castration, more commonly known as female genital mutilations, can cause long-term health complications and is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

The law requires a medical expert to determine whether an offender can safely be castrated.