
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994                   TAG: 9404050110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

SEX-CRIME DRUG PLAN PROPOSED

Drugs that shut off the male sex drive could be administered to sex offenders for less than half the cost of incarceration, officials said.

State Sen. Edgar Robb, R-Charlottesville, said last week that he might propose a government study of the drugs as a possible alternative to prison for some offenders.

"Chemical castration" involves the use of hormones or drugs to stop production of the male hormone testosterone. Doctors say the process is safe with relatively few side effects and has a high success rate.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins University have treated hundreds of men with the drugs Depo-Provera and Depo-Lupron, said Dr. Fred Berlin, who founded the university's sexual disorders clinic 14 years ago.

Men properly selected for such treatment have a more than 92 percent success rate and do not repeat the illegal sexual behavior, Berlin said. The drugs could cost as much as $600 a month, he said.

The cost to incarcerate a sex offender for one month is about $1,600, said Mike Etkin of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Robb, one of three senators on the state Crime Commission, said the state should study the treatment as part of its study of alternatives to incarceration.

by CNB