A Louisiana man has been sentenced to decades in prison and physical castration after pleading guilty to raping a teenager, according to a news release from the region’s district attorney.
Glenn Sullivan Sr., 54, pled guilty to four counts of second-degree rape on April 17. Authorities began investigating Sullivan in July 2022, when a young woman told the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office that Sullivan had assaulted her multiple times when she was 14. The assaults resulted in pregnancy, and a DNA test confirmed that Sullivan was the father of the child, the district attorney’s office said. Sullivan had also groomed the victim and threatened her and her family to prevent her from coming forward.
…
A 2008 Louisiana law says that men convicted of certain rape offenses may be sentenced to chemical castration. They can also elect to be physically castrated. Perrilloux said that Sullivan’s plea requires he be physically castrated. The process will be carried out by the state’s Department of Corrections, according to the law, but cannot be conducted more than a week before a person’s prison sentence ends. This means Sullivan wouldn’t be castrated until a week before the end of his 50-year sentence — when he would be more than 100 years old.
You know, I always used to say they ought to do this. But now, presented with the reality of it, I don’t like it at all.
This is because we can be of two minds about these things. You can have a personal response to heinous acts, but still think the government ought to be better.
If some guy murders the murderer of their kid, I can absolutely 100% understand why, and I could even admit that I might do the same in their position. But I still think that as a society we should not lower ourselves to this standard and I will always be against the death penalty (especially because the system will never be perfect and I will never think it’s worth killing even one innocent person by accident).
It’s why vigilante justice is so easily understood, but it’s still something we, as a society, shouldn’t accept.
Emotional reactions can cloud our minds to these things. But I absolutely agree with you. This is horrendous and barbarous. I can still somewhat understand the “he deserves it for what he did”-response, but I’m absolutely against this on a deeper level.
I don’t think it’s about having “Two minds” about it, for as you describe it doesn’t seem to fit the op, as he admitted that he wanted the state to do it.
Imo, this is about abstraction vs reality. In theory something might sound good, but when you are actually faced with the reality of it, it’s a huge turnoff.
I’m reminded of the reddit story where a guy got into scat porn. It became a fetish so he hired a prostitute to shit in his mouth. On the day of the deed, once the shit hit his mouth, as he described it, he was “just a guy on the floor with shit in his mouth.”
The shit is just hitting the OPs mouth right now.
Exactly right! I think we’re actually agreed on this.
I just meant that OP used to say they ought to do it, which was his ‘emotional’ response to it, which is easier when it’s in abstract. But in reality he doesn’t like it at all when his government actually does it.
I’d never heard about that reddit story, but I think it’s very apt, lol.
It’s also why vigilante justice is far more sympathetic than government camps to torture prisoners.
I believe in bodily autonomy even for the worst people
Yeah I get wanting it, but I don’t want a government that can do it. I also don’t think a reasonable interpretation of the bill of rights allows it. How is removing body parts not cruel and unusual punishment?
The state having the power to do this is horrible. A victim doing this to their attacker with a butter knife on the other hand.
This falls squarely under no cruel and unusual punishment for me. Heinous as the crime was this is just inhuman.
So, first you relativise what counts as cruel and unusual punishment, then you demonize the person. That is the road to atrocities. Why do you want to go there?
Me saying that rape is a heinous crime but saying its still inhuman to castrate a convicted rapist is demonizing them?
Sorry, I misread.
Yeah, chemical castration seems a lot better than the bull band treatment
I’ll take, “Laws that violate the 8th Amendment” for $100, Alex.
Nah see the 8th amendment no longer applies because he’s a criminal.
-Louisiana State Supreme Court
Probably
So if Trump is found guilty…
Making that poor old man sit in court for over 20 minutes is a violation of the 8th amendment if you listen to fox news.
if you listen to fox news.
That’s the neat part, I don’t
its so funny to me they’re portraying him as healthy enough to be president if he cant even sit in a chair for four hours
Yeah it’s cruel and unusual punishment to force him to checks notes do the equivalent of a week of full-time employment.
Part time, really
yes
Likely
Why add the physical castration part to plea if it doesn’t take effect until he’s 100, seems so pointless.
The American legal system is so barbarically fucked up.
Maybe to have it as a required part of his sentence, so while time can be reduced, perhaps the castration can’t? I.e. he couldn’t be released early unless he went through with the castration.
I dunno, I’m not a lawyer, just my guess. Fucked up either way on all sides of this.
deleted by creator
That’s not what the article says…
It says he still has to go through with chemical castration regardless of his plea making him do physical castration as well.
I suspect it’s a legal strategy he concocted with his lawyers: Chemical castration might have a different time period in which it is applied (because longer duration), maybe even starting right after the sentence becomes effective. As the summary here states, the physical version that he opted for himself(!) is not to be applied until a week before the sentence ends, which gives him a chance of a lot of things to happen before, laws to change etc & eventually get out of this without being castrated at all.
I think it’s like those 300 year sentences that come out once in a while. Ultimately it’s symbolic.
That sounds like cruel and unusual, no?
Barbaric and inhumane. Cruel and unusual.
and also just…weirdly fucking pointless. They are waiting till he is 100 to castrate him?
You mean the rape of a teenager, right?
We don’t mutilate and torture convicts. Rather, we aren’t supposed to but Louisiana is a shit hole.
Well, he won’t actually be castrated. So, why care?
why do you care so much about torturing criminals?
I don’t. It’s never going to happen. Why do you care so much about a rapist who won’t ever be castrated getting a castration sentence in 50 years from now. Why is this even news?
Are you saying that it is acceptable to sentence people to things that would normally be considered cruel as long as the judge doesn’t think they’ll live long enough for it to happen?
Louisiana has never physically castrated anyone. This sentence is a childish gesture, but I’m sure it made the victim and their family a lot happier. I’m all for prisoner rights, and not performing physical modifications. I would be in favor of chemical castration in all sex crimes.
Castration is 100% cruel and unusual punishment.
For raping a kid, i don’t really care if its cruel and unusual. Deserved.
Friendly reminder that in 1992 the FBI embarked on a crusade that falsely convicted dozens of parents during the height of the Satanic Panic. One of the first convicts spent 30 years in prison before enough evidence of manufactured evidence and coerced testimony was unearthed to convince a court to release him.
In another classic false conviction a father of two was executed for a 2004 house fire that state prosecutors determined was deliberate arson, with the intent to murder his two children. Then Texas Governor Rick Perry repeatedly interfered with court proceedings that uncovered fabricated evidence and pseudo-scientific forensic analysis.
Finally, we’ve got the classic case of Alan Turing, British engineering pioneer of the computer and hero cryptographer of WW2, who was chemically castrated after being accused of gross indecency with his then-19-year-old boyfriend, following a burglary of Turing’s home. Following the castration, Turing fell into a malaise and ended up committing suicide.
There are a whole host of reasons why deliberately sadistic punishments are a fucking awful idea.
- Witch Hunts can use gratuitous claims to cover for scant evidence, leading to irrevocable punishments aimed at innocent people.
- False Convictions resulting in maiming/death can aid in covering up the criminal incompetency of investigators.
- Prejudice and bigotry can play a heavy role in the targets of investigation and degree of punishment.
Even setting aside the reflexive need to give people what they “deserve”, you put far too much faith in a criminal justice system as prone to injustice as any of its subjects. The targets for chemical castration end up not being the most deserving, but the least articulate and most socially vulnerable.
You won’t see a guy like Donald Trump sentenced to chemical castration for grabbing women by the pussy. But you can easily see folks in the LGBT/Civil Rights, migrant communities, or impoverished neighborhoods singled out for legal abuses by malicious or career oriented prosecutors.
I was originally going to point out that this guy pleaded guilty but really no need because I can’t argue against your point at all.
That’s a very well put point. I didn’t care about this guy because I was picturing my kid as the victim. (That’s why parents shouldn’t have anything to do with punishing the convict)
I am against capitol punishment on principle. This article just hit me wrong or right depending on how you view it.
I did not think about how these laws can be used as tools to punish “others” especially in states that are or have started criminalizing anything near LGBT. Thanks for the good point.
We need more people like you, regardless of the topic debated.
So you’re not a believer in human rights I guess.
Read the article, he won’t even be castrated until he is 100.
I did read the article. He pleased guilty. Actually it would be over 100 not 100 if he got released. That’s why I don’t really care if it’s cruel or unusual.
I really dislike it when people say “read the article” and misquote it. This guys is a monster and intimidated the family so they wouldn’t come forward. Talk about human rights.
(Edit) going to leave this up to show I was a fool in my haste to post. Another comment showed I was doing a knee jerk reaction. Thanks for the good comments and debate.
Your integrity and good faith are rare and admirable in the modern day internet!
if it’s* cruel
In my opinion, given the crime this dude absolutely deserves this. With that being said the problem I have with this is the same I have with the death penalty. What happens when they accidentally or sometimes even intentionally get the wrong person? 4% of people who get sentenced to death are innocent. Even if that number is .4% I’m not okay with occasionally killing someone who is innocent. It’s only a matter of time before they sentence someone to have their testicles removed and they find out later oopise they didn’t commit the crime.
castration doesnt even do anything for most sex crime offenders.
Cause its not physical lust that drives most of it, its a psychological drive… and that psychological need/drive doesnt go away just cause you castrate someone, whether physically or chemically.
in addition to what you’re talking about, with the inherent risk of an innocent person running afoul of the law.
this dude absolutely deserves this
There’s a joke in the criminal justice system about how a clever DA can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, with a free enough hand at presentation of evidence. Consider that you are getting less from this article than the grand jury got at his indictment.
What happens when they accidentally or sometimes even intentionally get the wrong person? 4% of people who get sentenced to death are innocent. Even if that number is .4% I’m not okay with occasionally killing someone who is innocent.
The purpose of chemical castration as a political tool is purely for the optics. Case in point, this guy would not be subject to castration until the end of his 50 year sentence (at age 100). DAs and judges can campaign on this nightmarish act by appealing to voters with a sadistic streak while sleeping better knowing neither they nor the convict will live long enough to see it carried out.
Much like the death penalty itself, this is a performative endeavor intended to bait liberals into defending creeps (or, at least, suspected creeps) so that you can go on screen and call them “Pedophile Enablers”. Once chemical castration is normalized, you’ll see “Tough on Crime” conservatives pursue something even more vulgar.
God what kind of a shit plea deal involves 50-year sentence and castration? Honestly why even plead at that point?
I’m a little confused. First the punishment actually seems to fit the crime. Second I didn’t think castration was legal in the US. With everything else going on right now, what the actual fuck!
First the punishment actually seems to fit the crime.
So should we go back to chopping off the hands of thieves?
And be very careful about looking at a woman with lust in your eye.
Most states allow voluntary castration for treatment of a medical condition. That means if you have testicular cancer or gender dysphoria you can pay a ton of money to no longer have testicles, but it seems a pretty flagrant violation of our bill of rights to force it on a criminal
I believe chemical castration is technically legal but only is the grey area under loopholes because its not disfiguring the convicted or doing physical damage. I suspect they are going to argue the physical castration is legal by consent because the convicted has to plea for it specifically? Unlikely he will live long enough to face that judgement in a Louisiana prison, regardless.
Edit: Still think its horrific no matter what loophole they try to use, our justice system is fucked even in cases as awful as this.
deleted by creator
So, let’s say a man is accused of rape and impregnates a woman. DNA matches, everything matches. However, after the castration happens, the woman comes out and says it was actually consensual and not a rape, just her being petty over a disagreement or something. What then?
Ok ok about poor pedos, but what about lolita airlines logs Sherlock?
I want these rich pedos to pay back…
Removed by mod
You still have a penis after castration…
Removed by mod
How are there no comments here?! Is it a good idea well, yeah maybe it is…I just didn’t know it was reality.
It’s a bad idea. The reason it’s a bad idea is the same reason that the death penalty is a bad idea: the US penal system frequently gets it wrong.
Not saying you’re wrong, but she had a baby at 14 that shares the rapist’s DNA. I don’t think there’s any doubt he did it.
Even lab tests aren’t the word of god.
Exactly. If there was any question then the punishment is way too permanent to even be considered. But this dude is literally the father of a 14 year old girls child. There is no question here. There is no ambiguity. Have a third party double check the tests and another one tripple check them; if the results are still conclusive then make sure he can never harm anyone ever again.
My only complaint is that castration is cruel and unusual without reason because it doesn’t actually prevent him from being a danger. Just lock him up forever or kill him. Right now I know life imprisonment is usually cheaper than the death penalty otherwise it wouldn’t even be a question.
That the evidence of guilt is extraordinary here is immaterial, because the law can’t distinguish between the evidence in this case and a wrongful conviction. You can say, “Well we only use this punishment when we’re super duper sure about it”, but the standard for any criminal conviction is already beyond reasonable doubt. There’s already supposed to be no question for all convictions, yet we still have people in prison today for crimes they didn’t commit.
Exactly. If there was any question then the punishment is way too permanent to even be considered. But this dude is literally the father of a 14 year old girls child.
What kind of forcible medical alteration is appropriate for a woman who sexually assaults a younger male? Like, say, any of the various cases where a female teacher has a “relationship”/“sex romp” (aka rape but it’s a woman so we don’t want to call it that) with a male student?
She had his child?
Do we know if she was willing during the sexual encounter?
She was a child. Please fuck off.
Why are you afraid to answer this?
Because it’s a sick question. A 14-year-old child can’t be “willing during the sexual encounter”. It’s just rape. If that’s not reason enough for you though, here’s the relevant bit from the article:
The assaults resulted in pregnancy, and a DNA test confirmed that Sullivan was the father of the child, the district attorney’s office said. Sullivan had also groomed the victim and threatened her and her family to prevent her from coming forward.
Yes they can be.
You’re just afraid to answer the question cause it doesn’t go along with your agenda.
Cutting off the balls of criminals is a bad idea even if we get it right 100% of the time.
