and the associated treatment measures. They are rather similar. however, in providing for castration under specified circumstances when abnormal sexuality has been evidenced by criminal behavior and a psychiatric diagnosis. The purpose of these laws is alleged generally to be therapeutic rather than punitive or deterrents...

Psychiatrists consulted on the issue have held quite consistently that in order to achieve desired psychotherapeutic objectives the patient must desire and seek castration himself, that otherwise his feelings of resentment and inadequacy may be seriously damaging and, perhaps, dangerous... under the Danish practice the patient's decision to seek castration is in actuality something rather less than a free choice on his part, since prospective condidates for surgery are under indeterminate commitments.. the time of their release depending upon the decisions of the authorities... (and) they know from the customary practice that without castration their confinement may be prolonged for many years (but) that their submision will result in early release... Critical studies of their experiences in Denmark have pointed to the conclusion that the cases that are most benefitted by castration are those in which there is clear evidence of biological aberration or mental deficiency along with persistent sexual delinquency.

(In Holland) there is usually no pressure upon (the sex psychopath) to request the surgery, and, as in Denmark, approval of the government must be given. The trend has been away from the employment of castration because of what they believe to be a danger of excessive personality changes...

Castration, however effective it may appear to be in European experience with specialized types of sex deviates, cannot gain favor in the United States... What with the hysteria so easily provoked in the United States relative to sex criminality, there is very real danger that the castration technique, if it were adopted here, would too easily be misapplied... Finally, though there is disagreement on the point, it appears that castration may produce pronounced personality as well as physical changes that may complicate the problems of the deviate and increase his danger to the community.

The data from Denmark confirms recent findings in the States: that most sex offenders do not recidivate and that those who do tend to repeat their prior offenses rather than develop more serious forms of criminality. Very few display marked psychiatric aberration and most of them do not require special treatment methods mattachine REVIEW

differentiated from those applied to other types of law violators. The data suggest, however, that suspended sentences and probation could safely be used far more frequently than they are.

Sex Pervert... AGE 7

Californians, who generally accept without emotion a daily fare of sensational headlines, were jolted last December by the news that a seven-year-old boy in a mining camp had been charged with a sex offense. On December 12 the boy was placed in a juvenile home and held there until released back to his parents after a hearing on January 4.

Paul V. Coates, in his daily column, "Confidential File," in the Los Angeles Mirror-News, probably told the story of this event as well as anyone. On January 3 he wrote, after a New Year's Day visit to the parents of the boy at their residence in Eagle Mountain, the mining camp:

"Neighbors have charged (this boy) with being a offender!" And he is only seven years old!

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"Since December 12, when he was taken into custody by two deputy sheriffs, the child has been held at Riverside (Calif.): Juvenile Hall, on the recommendation of a probation officer. The probation department claims the boy is being held because of a "horrible allegation" against him.

"The complaint reads that "on or about November 13, he did willfully and maliciously commit lewd acts upon a female person, age approximately 5, by placing his hand under her dress." "Any psychiatrist, or, for that matter, any parent, would consider this just part of a child's normal, healthy curiosity. But the probation officer is not a psychiatrist. And, perhaps, he's not even a parent. To him, the charge was a "horrible allegation," and he recommended to a Superior Court judge that the seven-year-old suspect be kept in custody."

Here Coates admitted there might be justification for holding the child if the parents were incapable of caring for him and explaining his curiosity to him. But, the writer added, he found no reason to believe the parents were incapable of fulfilling their responsibility to the child when he visited the mining camp on New Year's Day. The other two children in the family were well behaved. The entire family was state of bewilderment and tension.

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