Quora Answer: How Harsh is the Enforcement of Strict Laws in Singapore?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How harsh is the enforcement of those strict laws in Singapore?”

The principle of law enforcement that Singapore uses is preventive, as opposed to punitive.  This means that the penalties for offences are high to serve as a deterrent.  The focus is not on judicial punishment after the fact.

That being said, the enforcement of the law is pragmatic, not harsh.  Whilst the laws are strict, the enforcement is not legalistic.  If it were so, there would be a lot more people in prison, and that would defeat the purpose of such strict laws.  The reasoning behind this is because we treat the people in Singapore as a resource, and human resource is too valuable to be wasted.  The purpose of the judicial system is to reform, and not create career criminals.

There are categories of crimes where there is a death penalty.  Aside from drug trafficking, they include culpable homicide amounting to murder, kidnapping for ransom, the intentional discharge of a firearm and waging war against the state.  Then, there are crimes with judicial caning as a penalty, such as illegal immigration and overstaying, rioting, robbery, extortion and various serious offences.  In the case of capital punishment, the deterrent effect keeps incidences of such crimes statistically non-existent.  To get a conviction for a death penalty, the prosecution must prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.  An entire process of due diligence applies to the gathering and processing of evidence to protect the reputation of the judiciary.

The prison system is not simply a place of incarceration, but a place where inmates are given a chance to further their education and acquire technical skills.  After prison, there are halfway houses and job placement programmes.  These are conscious efforts to reduce recidivism.  There is an entire government department that looks after former inmates.