American Notes Law

Steven Allen Butler, 28, a Houston shoeshine man, faced a grim future. Butler, already on probation for an indecency conviction involving a seven-year-old girl, confronted a possible life sentence for repeatedly raping a 13-year-old neighbor. Last week a Texas judge approved Butler's request to be surgically castrated rather than go to prison. The victim's family, who knows Butler, approved of castration to spare the girl from testifying at a trial.

Under the sentence, Butler would undergo the procedure and plead guilty to the charges. In return, he would receive 10 years of probation. The irreversible procedure Butler will undergo is the surgical removal of both testicles. When the testicles are removed, the sexual drive is greatly diminished. Butler, who is married, says his wife has agreed to let him undergo the operation.

Critics called the decision barbaric. "Would you allow an 18-year-old boy who stole a car three times to say, 'Cut my hands off so I won't do it again?' " asked Philip Reilly, an expert on sterilization. Said Harvard professor Laurence Tribe: "Some people would say that sexuality should not be a subject for plea bargaining, that it's inherently coercive."