Oklahoma State Rep. Rick West, R-Heavener, filed a bill this week that would allow the administration of chemical treatments to reduce testosterone in repeat sex offenders.

If Rep. West's bill is passed, Oklahoma would become one of at least seven U.S. states with laws allowing chemical castration for sex offenders. Although the overwhelmingly Republican state has a long history of putting tough crime legislation on the books, this bill allowing chemical castration to be administered to repeat sex offenders and pedophiles is likely to face stiff opposition.

The chemical treatment adminsters drugs that reduce the inmate's testosterone. According to the AP, several experts labeled the chemical and surgical procedures a "half fantasy" within the criminal justice system. The chemical castration process is more effective when it is done voluntarily, the researchers say.

In a strange twist, more than 15 sex offenders in California requested surgical castration in order to avoid indefinite incarceration. One of the men underwent the castration surgery in order to walk free from a state mental hospital.

The U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out "double jeopardy" challenges to the more than seven states that currently mandate civil confinement to convicted sex offenders after their prison term has ended. Several states including California and Texas mandate castration to repeat sex offenders, with Texas being the first to offer the surgery to voluntary repeat offenders. The American Civil Liberties Union has called surgical castration "cruel and unusual punishment" as a means of reducing an inmate's sentence.

There are several cases of repeat offenders in Illinois, Ohio and Arkansas requesting to have the surgery performed as a means of reducing a jail sentence.

Colorado state prison officials administer anti-depressants to sex offenders as some studies have shown the drugs reduce their sexual appetites.

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