HERNANDO, Miss. (WMC) – A Mississippi state senator is introducing legislation that would allow convicted child sex offenders working in schools to be chemically castrated.
DeSoto County State Senator Michael McLendon took to social media Monday, announcing plans to introduce the School Predator Accountability Act. The announcement followed the arrest of a Hernando substitute teacher for possession of child pornography and the sentencing of a former middle school teacher in Corinth for making AI-generated porn of his students.
Proposed legislation details
Senator McLendon is proposing a special registry for former school employees convicted of sex crimes, an immediate notification system for parents when a faculty member is arrested for such crimes, and allowing chemical castration for school employees convicted of child sex crimes.
Hernando residents said they welcome the proposals.
“I think chemical castration is a good idea. I think it should go a long way,” one resident said.
“I think it’s a start. I think it needs to be tried and see how it works, and then go back to the drawing board if it doesn’t,” said Michael Hill, a Hernando resident.
Parents support harsher penalties
Wesley Miller, a Hernando parent, said he supports the legislation.
“If there’s a piece of paper I can sign it to get my name on it to make that go faster, sign me up brother, today, tomorrow or the next one. My wife feels the same way, most of the parents that live around her feel the same way,” Miller said.
Miller said each story he hears about a predator in a classroom angers and concerns him as a parent raising two young children.
“That’d be like if I walked up to my kid and gave him a popsicle, but the popsicle had bleach in it. He trusted me. Now he’s sick and bleeding internally. He’s forever scarred internally,” Miller said.
DeSoto County residents said something needs to be done to keep predators away from employment at their children’s schools.
“I don’t understand how they are getting in our schools. That’s the main thing. And if they do. They need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” one resident said.
Unless there is a special session, the School Predator Accountability Act will not be introduced until the next Mississippi Legislative Session in 2027.
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