MHA survey finds growing support among Singapore residents for death penalty in most serious crimes
by Lee Chong Ming · CNA · JoinSINGAPORE: More Singapore residents support the use of the death penalty for the most serious crimes, according to the findings of a 2023 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) survey released on Thursday (Sep 19).
A survey was first conducted in 2021 to "better understand public perceptions" and the ministry conducted it again two years later.
According to the latest survey findings, 77.4 per cent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the use of the death penalty for the most serious crimes, such as murder and trafficking a "significant amount of drugs".
This was higher than the 73.7 per cent in the 2021 survey.
There were "statistically significant increases" in the proportion of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed with the use of the mandatory death penalty as punishment for three crimes.
They are trafficking a significant amount of drugs, discharging or attempting to discharge a firearm with the intent to cause injury, and intentional murder.
About 68.7 per cent of the respondents in the latest survey agreed or strongly agreed the mandatory death penalty was appropriate as punishment for trafficking a significant amount of drugs, up from 65.6 per cent in 2021.
There was also an increase in those who agreed or strongly agreed that such a punishment was appropriate for firearm offences – from 71.1 per cent in 2021 to 74.3 per cent in 2023.
For intentional murder, 85 per cent of respondents in 2023 strongly agreed or agreed that the mandatory death penalty was appropriate as punishment, higher than the 80.5 per cent in 2021.
The preliminary figures of the 2023 survey were revealed by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam in a ministerial statement in May.
“There is broad support from our population because we have been upfront and open about the rationale, circumstances and safeguards on the use of the death penalty,” said Mr Shanmugam.
DISCRETIONARY DEATH PENALTY
Respondents in the survey who did not agree that the mandatory death penalty was appropriate for these three crimes were further asked if the discretionary death penalty or life imprisonment would be the more appropriate punishment.
Within this group, some respondents indicated that the discretionary death penalty would be the more appropriate punishment, MHA said.
“Taking these respondents into account, the 2023 survey found that the large majority of respondents agreed that some form of the death penalty - whether mandatory or discretionary - was appropriate as the punishment for these three crimes.
"These proportions were comparable to that in the 2021 survey,” it added.
From the findings, 75.5 per cent of respondents agreed that some form of the death penalty was appropriate for trafficking a significant amount of drugs, up from 73.4 per cent in 2021.
For firearm offences, 81.3 per cent supported some form of the death penalty as punishment, down from 82 per cent in 2021.
For intentional murder, 88.7 per cent agreed that some form of the death penalty was appropriate, slightly higher than 88.2 per cent in 2021.
Survey methodology
A survey company was appointed to conduct face-to-face interviews with about 2,000 Singapore residents, comprising citizens and permanent residents, aged 15 and above. About 86.7 per cent of the respondents were Singaporeans.
Similar to the 2021 survey, the 2023 survey utilised stratified random sampling based on age, race, sex and citizenship status to ensure that the survey sample would be representative of the national resident population.
The fieldwork for the survey took place between April and June 2023. Respondents were assured that their responses would be kept anonymous.
DETERRENCE
The survey also found that a larger proportion of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the death penalty deterred three of the most serious crimes, compared to the findings in 2021.
- Trafficking a significant amount of drugs: 87.9 per cent in 2023, up from 83.2 per cent in 2021.
- Firearm offences: 90.2 per cent in 2023, up from 85.9 per cent in 2021.
- Murder: 90.2 per cent in 2023, up from 85.9 per cent in 2021.
Respondents were also asked if they felt that the death penalty had an additional deterrent effect over life imprisonment.
"In the 2023 survey, there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed that the death penalty was more effective compared to life imprisonment in deterring people from trafficking a significant amount of drugs, committing firearm offences, and committing murders," said MHA.
The ministry added that similar to the findings in 2021, the majority of respondents in the survey had confidence that Singapore’s criminal justice system would handle death penalty cases appropriately.
According to the findings, 88.7 per cent of respondents had confidence that accused persons in death penalty cases undergo fair and rigorous investigations, a slight increase from 88.5 per cent in 2021.
The majority (87.9 per cent) also had confidence that these individuals undergo fair and rigorous trials, compared with 88.1 per cent in the 2021 survey.
Meanwhile, 84.3 per cent believed there are adequate safeguards to ensure there are no wrongful executions, compared with 85.3 per cent in the previous survey.
MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY
To better understand how respondents felt about the mandatory death penalty, the 2023 survey introduced three new questions:
- Whether the mandatory death penalty was a strong deterrent against the most serious crimes in Singapore
- Whether the replacement of the mandatory death penalty with the discretionary death penalty would result in an increase in serious crimes in Singapore
- Whether they would prefer to retain the mandatory death penalty in Singapore
Most of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the statements, MHA said.
About 75.6 per cent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that they would prefer the mandatory death penalty to be retained for trafficking a significant amount of drugs.
For firearm offences, about 82.2 per cent agreed or strongly agreed, while 87.7 per cent agreed or strongly agreed for intentional murder.
The survey also found a statistically significant increase in the proportion of residents who strongly agreed or agreed that the mandatory death penalty was a greater deterrent than the discretionary death penalty for the most serious crimes.
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