Well, we do toss them in jail, but we can't sentence them to a life term (which really isn't life-long, anyway) until they've already repeated their offense a few times. This study shows that it not only drastically reduces their recidivism for violent sexual crimes, but also for nonsexual offenses. Incarceration alone has a recidivism rate of over 80%. Post-castration rates hover around the 2% mark.
I know that study is long and tedious to read, but a surprisingly high number of those studied volunteered for physical castration. Something like 35~40%, iirc. And the number of those who reported being satisfied with the results of being castrated were closer to 50%. A good chunk of the others were indifferent to it. Only a minority expressed resentment. To me, this indicates that most of these people were sick, knew they were sick, wanted to be cured and were grateful after it was done. I don't think we can lump all these sex offenders into the same group as hard-core, lifetime criminals who murder, steal, etc, their way into maximum confinement.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."