The application of the totality principle in Singapore

• Main Author: WONG, Zi Yang
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Contracts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sljlexicon/39; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sljlexicon/article/1035/viewcontent/The_Application_of_the_Totality_Principle_in_Singapore.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

When dealing with an offender who has been convicted of two or more distinct offences, the Court is faced with the issue of determining an appropriate aggregate sentence to be imposed. An aggregate sentence may offend the totality principle if it exceeds the length of the sentence imposed for the most serious offence, or if the sentence is “crushing” and not in keeping with the offender’s past record and future prospects. In deciding whether to vary a sentence on the grounds of the totality principle, the Courts have considered an offender’s overall criminality, advanced age, precedents and the possibility of remission. This paper argues that the articulation of the totality principle ought to be revised to better reflect how it is applied in practice. Furthermore, it is argued that an offender’s advanced age and the possibility of remission are factors that are incompatible with the totality principle’s emphasis on an offender’s rehabilitative prospects. Accordingly, they should not be relevant factors in determining whether a sentence offends the totality principle.