Delivering fair, consistent, and reliable sentence for murder in Singapore

• Main Author: CHAN, Wing Cheong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: death penalty; murder; Singapore; Asian Studies; Public Law and Legal Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4027
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The mandatory death penalty for murder was changed in Singapore in 2012 to give judges the discretion to choose between imposing the death penalty or life imprisonment (with caning) in cases of non-intentional murder. This article reviews the sentences for murder since then and the factors considered by the courts to justify the use of the death penalty or not. The move from an inherently arbitrary mandatory regime to a discretionary one was a watershed moment in Singapore, and it is questioned if the time has come for the death penalty for muder to be abolished completely.