Introduction: Sex offences and disorders of sexual preference are common. There is little reliable prevalence data on many of these problems but studies of victims suggest that up to one third of women will suffer some form of sexual assault during their lives. It is likely that although the number of perpetrators may be small the number of victims is large and that any intervention to reduce recidivism could have considerable impact on this problem.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of antilibidinal drugs or castration in reducing the target sexual thoughts, urges, or acts by those who have disorders of sexual preference or are charged with sexual offences.

Methods: Trials of those treated with medication or surgery for disorders of sexual preference or sexual offending were systematically sought and the outcomes relating to death, recidivism, and other forms of criminal offence recorded. Where possible, these data will be summated.

Results: This review is underway, results will be presented first at the 1997 Amsterdam Cochrane Colloquium.