Just to play devil's advocate, I can see eugenics becoming an effective way to control crime because it would target the genes rather than the person; the urge to reproduce and pass our genes on is one of our strongest instincts. Many people who would happily do prison time would hesitate, at least, if they knew they ran the risk of losing their ability to have children. Any such effort would take years to show any sort of effect, though.
Well 1. There's no evidence that genes themselves cause crime.
2. Raping and torturing them would also deter crime.
I see I didn't make my point clearly.
I know there isn't any evidence of "criminal genes" in and of themselves. What I was referring to was targeting the instinct to breed itself. Even without specific genes driving a criminal behavior, taking away the ability to reproduce would ping on people's instincts a lot harder than many of the punishments our system has nowadays.
As to point two, "effective" isn't the same as "right"; I don't believe the ends justify the means. If the means can't stand on their own, then the means are wrong, period. Whether sterilizing criminals would be an effective strategy or not, it's still a massive human rights violation.
Since our justice system only calls for conviction beyond a REASONABLE doubt, not beyond ANY POSSIBILITY of doubt, then we tacitly acknowledge the fact that the justice system makes mistakes; this is also why I'm against the death penalty. What would you recommend happen, Cataclysm, if someone wrongfully convicted were sterilized?
What would you recommend if someone who was wrongfully convicted spent years in prison? Currently our system doesn't do anything, using the logic that the courts weren't intending to put an innocent person in jail, so they shouldn't be held accountable. I don't agree with this and do think that the government should do some monetary compensations. I'd imagine that someone who has been wrongfully convicted would care more about getting back the time and opportunities lost.
However, since it can be argued that the government has unfairly taken away that ability, it should pay for somatic-cell nuclear transfer of the person in order for the person to create gametes so they can have biological children, or if possibly pay for a surgery that can reverse the sterilization should these technologies become commonplace.
I agree that they should be financially compensated; I also think the prosecutors in the case, at the very least, should be liable for false prosecution, both criminally and civilly.
As for your suggestion on how to handle cases of wrongful sterilization (if sterilization were made part of a sentence), what about prisoners who have moral or religious objections to in vetro fertilization? Or those who refuse blood transfusions for similar reasons and therefore wouldn't survive a sterilization surgery?