Pedophiles are wretched people who abuse the helpless, and they get no sympathy from me. However, they are still people — sick people, damaged people, often abused people, sometimes psychopathic people. They have to be treated with due process and concern — we want to end the behavior, not the individual. So now Poland has passed a law requiring mandatory chemical castration for pedophiles. That’s a frightening prospect, not just because it’s a punishment that can and will be abused — who judged Alan Turing but the state? — and the attitudes behind it are even worse.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said late last year he wanted obligatory castration for pedophiles, whom he branded ‘degenerates’. Tusk said he did not believe “one can use the term ‘human’ for such individuals, such creatures.”

Not human? Wow. Forget castration, let’s just have summary executions. Perhaps we’ll soon see pedophile meat on sale in Polish markets? Wouldn’t want them to go to waste, after all!

Despite the temptation to go organic, though, I don’t think we want to have free-range pedophiles. Instead, we’ll have to go with battery ‘philes, raised in the cells of the local monasteries and churches. And if you find that offensive, I suggest you direct your complaints to the Polish government officials who have just branded a small portion of their citizenry as inhuman.