Quora Änswer: Why is Caning Applied to Deal with Graffiti in Singapore?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why is caning applied, in Singapore, to deal with graffiti, a small crime?  Peeing in public is even more vile than graffiti?”

Whether this or that crime is evil is sometimes relative. Singapore has a pragmatic application of the law.  When someone urinates, that urine can be washed away.  Graffiti, on the other hand, requires cleaning to remove.  This added effort increases cost.

A person who urinates in public, he is fined.  If he urinates on someone deliberately, it is considered assault, and the penalties are much more severe.  If he urinates on an electrical appliance, and that spoils it, the AGC could conceivably proceed on vandalism.

Such acts, and graffiti, are covered under the Vandalism Act (Cap 341), which prescribes mandatory caning.  Graffiti is the deliberate defacement of property that belongs to others, or the state.  It is an anti-social act and a rebellion against order .  Graffiti is viewed as a prelude to other acts of anti-social behaviour if it is not addressed.

A preventive legal system thus creates a harsh penalty that may sometimes be viewed as out of proportion to the act when is addressing that act as part of a potential criminal pattern, instead of in isolation.  It is meant as a deterrent, not as a punishment.  If the state canes a few individuals, others of like mind will be deterred, and society benefits.  It is a form of social conditioning.