Castration Quotes
In the wake of the Tonkin Gulf incident, the United States bombed and destroyed North Vietnam naval installations:
William the Conqueror. This is one of the first if not the first nationwide abolition of capital punishment in history. Ironically, the two alternatives that the abolition law allowed would both be illegal and repugnant to us today even though we allow capital punishment.
Califano had just reported to the President that he had successfully negotiated a deal with a key senator.
Defending himself against the charge that he had fathered an illegitimate child:
The President had instituted a policy whereby convicted pedophiles would be chemically castrated. He Indonesian Medical Society however voted overwhelmingly that such a practice would be unethical and immoral, and it would be improper for any doctor to participate in such a program. Jokowi was asked by a BBC interviewer what he would do about his new policy if the doctors refused to carry it out. This was his response. His program is illustrative of a reaction of many political leaders when faced with a problem that concerned most people but for which there was no known specific solution. They reach out for ideas regardless of how draconian they were or how extensively they violate human rights—even when they themselves know there is no evidence that the new idea will be successful. If there is a problem and a national leader does not appear to try and do something, he/she is often accused of not caring rather than the reality of not taking a chance with “solutions” that will do some harm and may not do any good.
Mulcts were fines. This was the then common view of educated people regarding the criminal justice system and what we would consider today as barbarous punishments. Note the view that those who had money should pay fines for some crimes but those without money should have their bodies mutilated for the same crimes.
Rogovin had just asked Califano how he felt about possibly being Republican congressman John Anderson’s running mate for the presidency
In 1849, Gideon Lincecum introduced a proposal before the Texas legislature hoping to combat crime. His solution was to castrate criminals in the manner of gelding bulls, thus literally cutting off the bloodline in order to prevent criminals from reproducing new criminals. Like many others in American and world history, he erroneously believed that criminality was hereditary. To persuade the legislators, he used this folksy analogy. His proposal was rejected.
