The long-standing debate surrounding the death penalty in Singapore has intensified in recent months. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has maintained its stance while pointing out that the majority of Singaporeans are still in favour of capital punishment.
On Wednesday (19 Oct), the ministry released the findings of studies they did on the use of the death penalty in Singapore between 2019 and 2021.
The three studies conducted or commissioned by MHA include:
It was found that amongst Singaporeans, more than 70% agreed that the death penalty is justified for serious crimes.
According to MHA, the studies showed that Singaporeans and Permanent Residents showed “very strong support” for the use of the death penalty as punishment for the “most serious crimes”.
“Serious crimes” in this case include offences such as intentional murder, use of firearms, and trafficking significant amounts of drugs.
In the IPS 2020 study, 74% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that it is justified as a punishment for such crimes.
RSD 2021 has similar findings, with 73.7% of respondents agreeing that the death penalty should be used for serious crimes. The remaining 11.2% and 15.1% of respondents disagreed and were neutral respectively.
When asked how much they agree with the mandatory death penalty being used for each serious crime, this was how respondents in the IPS 2020 study responded:
Source: Institute of Policy Studies
In RSD 2021, similar results were drawn:
In RSD 2021, those who disagreed that the mandatory death penalty was an appropriate punishment for the crimes were also asked if the discretionary death penalty or life imprisonment were more appropriate.
Most respondents felt that life imprisonment was a more appropriate punishment for all three offences.
Nonetheless, a significant number believed that the discretionary death penalty was the most appropriate.
Taking this into account, these are the proportion of respondents who agreed that some form of the death penalty – discretionary or otherwise – would be appropriate for such crimes:
The MHA studies also found that most Singaporeans agree that the death penalty is effective in deterring serious crimes.
In general, IPS 2020 found that 78.2% of respondents believed it deterred serious crimes.
More specifically, 70.6% of respondents felt it was more effective than life imprisonment in preventing intentional murder.
Source: Institute of Policy Studies
As for firearm offences, 70.8% of respondents felt the death penalty was more effective.
When it came to drug trafficking, 68% similarly agreed that life imprisonment was less of a deterrent.
RSD 2021 drew similar conclusions, with a large majority believing the death penalty is an effective deterrent for serious crimes.
On a related note, 79% to 79.5% of respondents felt that removing the death penalty will lead to an increase in these crimes.
When it came to drug trafficking, 73.7% of respondents deemed the death penalty more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment.
These views were mirrored by people living in regions around Singapore as well.
The HTBSC 2021 study reportedly found that 87.2% of respondents in the region believed the death penalty prevented people from bringing substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore.
82.5% also felt that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment as deterrence for drug trafficking.
Besides that, the RSD 2021 found that Singaporeans have a high level of confidence in Singapore’s criminal justice system:
All in all, MHA concluded that there is “very strong support” among Singaporeans for the use of the death penalty for serious crimes.
It is also evident in Singapore and the region that the death penalty is more effective in deterring drug trafficking as compared to life imprisonment.
In capital cases, there continues to be a high level of public confidence in Singapore’s criminal justice system in ensuring fairness.
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Featured image adapted from Jeffrey Lim on Facebook.
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