Take away death penalty and weaken war against drugs: Shanmugam

[Extremist]

SINGAPORE - Capital punishment has worked to deter drug traffickers from Singapore and should be used as a continuing punishment for drug offenders here, Law Minister K. Shanmugam said in Parliament on Wednesday.

Mr Shanmugam said that fear of hanging has kept drug offenders at bay and drug prices high.

The number of drug abusers caught in Singapore has also fallen since the 1990s, he said.

The Minister was speaking in response to questions posed by 16 MPs on amendments made to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A Bill on changes to be made to the act states that the death penalty will no longer apply if two "specific, tightly-defined conditions" are met.

To those MPs who asked that judges be given even more discretion in death penalty cases, Mr Shanmugam warned that the death sentence could be abolished in practice, if judges are given more discretion in death penalty cases.

He also asked if Singapore was ready to accept the risks of weakening the death penalty.

Mr Shanmugam added that the "substantial assistance" condition, which allows offenders to avoid the death penalty upon cooperation with investigators, is needed to help authorities nab the real masterminds of drug syndicates.

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[Extremist]

SINGAPORE : Amendments to the Penal Code have been passed in Parliament, such that the mandatory death penalty will not be imposed for all murder cases.

Where killing is not intentional, the court will now decide if the accused should be given the death sentence or life imprisonment.

For consistency, the option of imposing a fine will be removed when life imprisonment is imposed for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (under Section 304 of the Penal Code).

All existing cases, if eligible, will be considered for re-sentencing under the new law.

Several Members of Parliament (MPs) rose in support of the amendments, but called for further reform.

Opposition MP Sylvia Lim asked if the mandatory death penalty should apply even when there is an intention to kill, which can be present in a wide range of circumstances.

The MP for Aljunied GRC said: "Taking the most evil of circumstances, we have mercenaries hired under contracts to kill, intending to profit from committing murder. We have also had groups who rob and kill hardworking taxi drivers with deadly weapons.

"Moving to the other end of spectrum, we find more multi-faceted scenarios where the accused is not inherently a killer. For instance, an accused finds a childhood friend whom he discovers has been having a long affair with his wife behind his back, in his matrimonial bed, and is unable to get over the betrayal despite the lapse of time."

Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam responded: "But the fact is even in the latter situation, it is deliberate, cold-blooded, intentional killing. Because if it is not cold-blooded and intentional, if it is on the spur on moment, there is a defence, Ms Lim knows that - if there is provocation. There are other defences as well, self-defence, provocation.

"On balance, looking at 300a today, we have said (that in) a case where there is intention to kill, our society will view it as extremely serious, intentional killing, cold-blooded killing, deliberate, and in those situations, the mandatory penalty should apply. But for b, c and d cases without intention to kill, we make a very significant change. It is a question of judgment, I accept."

Mr Shanmugam was referring to Section 300a of the Penal Code, which defines murder cases where there is intention to kill, and Sections 300b, c and d, for cases of unintentional killing.

- CNA/ms

 

[tualingong]

most stupidest statement i have ever read.

if death penalty can fix the problem why are there so many people got death penalty for drug trafficking?

 

[Char_Azn]

We're doing the world a favor by removing them from the gene pool. Hopefully they have not reproduced yet