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Senator and victim's advocate speak about chemical castration bill

Sen. Tauaa S. Vaouli during a Samoa News interview
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “Chemical castration is a frightening thought in an adult’s mind; but it is no comparison to a child's frightened, paralyzed young and immature mind while being sexually violated, abused or raped,” said Ipu Lefiti, a local victim's rights advocate.

Lefiti was responding to a Samoa News request for comments to legislation, introduced last Friday by Sen. Tauaa S. Vaouli that calls for the chemical castration of convicted sex offenders.

“I applaud the senator’s boldness to provoke a deep dialogue on the consequences of sexual abuse and violence,” Lefiti said. “With the increased exposure of these crimes it was just a matter of time before the people will be fed up and demand for a more invasive punishment/treatment.”

Preamble of the “Chemical Castration for Sex Offenders Act” legislation cites — among other things — that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old and 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police.

It also noted two sex crime cases reported by Samoa News: a 21-year-old foreign national who engaged in two separate sexual relationships with two different minors; and a man charged with raping his 13-year old biological daughter, starting in 2016.

“There are too many sex crime cases” especially those involving young children who are victims, Tauaa told Samoa News on Tuesday during a brief interview regarding the reason behind sponsoring the bill.

Besides the case of the man accused of raping his biological daughter this month, the senator also referred to a case last year against a faifeau (minister) accused of raping his daughter.

“That’s sick,” Tauaa said. “I have kids. I have grandkids. I said man, ‘I don’t want anything to happen to those kids’,” he added. He said he recalled what went through his mind when reading about these cases, and later conducted research along with Senate Legal Counsel Mitzie Jessop-Taase on chemical castration laws in the US including Guam.

Lefiti told Samoa News that every “sex crime especially against our children is a sensational story. If our laws on protecting our children from sexual crimes are falling on deaf ears and increasing in an alarming rate as reported by the senator, I would support this measure.”

“But I do not believe it will reduce recidivism or cure,” she added, and suggested that a “pilot project would be needed to record results.”

She continued, “I would hope that the idea of being chemically castrated would deter or keep the offender in jail to serve the full sentence behind bars.”

Since Samoa News reported on the bill, there has been criticism — mostly on social media and some comments posted on the online version of the story at www.samoanews.com — towards Tauaa, who is aware of the comments after they were brought to his attention by family members.

“We are talking about the victims,” Tauaa said. “They are scarred for life, especially if they are young kids.”

Criticism comes as Samoa News reported yesterday about a man who was arrested and charged for alleged sexual acts with his 11-year old niece.