Strong Support For Death Penalty In Singapore For Serious Crimes: Studies

SINGAPORE, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- There is very strong support in Singapore, among its citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs), for the use of the death penalty as punishment for serious crimes such as intentional murder, use of firearms, and drug trafficking. This is the findings from three studies commissioned by the republic’s Home Affairs Ministry (MHA) which were published under the ‘Publications’ section on its website today. One of the studies titled ‘Attitudes towards the Use of Capital Punishment’ found that 74 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty was justified for the most serious of crimes. The study was commissioned by MHA in 2019 and conducted by Dr Carol Soon and Shawn Goh of the Institute of Policy Studies. To a specific question on the ‘mandatory death penalty’, the study found that 71.4 per cent of respondents strongly agreed that the death penalty should be mandatory for intentional murder, 61.5 per cent for intentionally trafficking a substantial amount of drugs and 60.1 per cent for the illegal use of firearms ‘Mandatory death penalty’ means that the sentencing court must impose the death penalty on the offender once he is found guilty of that crime, and has no power to impose any other type of sentence, said the study. The study also found that 78.2 per cent of respondents believed that the death penalty serves as a deterrent for serious crimes in general. In relation to drug trafficking, the study showed that 78.9 per cent of respondents believed that the death penalty deters people from trafficking substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore; and 70.8 per cent believed that it was more effective than life imprisonment. Another study titled ‘Perception of Residents in Regional Cities on Singapore’s Crime Situation, Law and Safety’, meanwhile, found that 87.2 per cent believed that the death penalty makes people not want to traffic substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore. The study also found that 82.5 per cent believed that the death penalty was more effective as a deterrent than life imprisonment for drug trafficking. The study was commissioned by the MHA Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre and conducted in two phases in 2018 and 2021 respectively. The third study, meanwhile, was conducted by the MHA Research and Statistics Division in 2021, titled ‘Survey on Singapore Residents’ Attitudes towards the Death Penalty’. -- BERNAMA