my.take//judicial.punishment

Monday, August 2, 2010

My current affairs role aside, this is my true take on judicial punishment in Singapore.

Judicial punishment refers to the act of punishment as carried out by a court or similar judicial system. Specifically in Singapore, this refers to the act of caning as a form of judicial corporal punishment. In my opinion, the main reason why Singapore would continue to do such a thing as opposed to signing the Humans Rights Act is because Singapore has to show that, although it is a small country, it is still an independent and stable country, and has its own set of ideals instead of jumping onto an international bandwagon. Certainly this is acceptable in some cases, such as perhaps a murder or rape incident committed by a foreigner on Singapore ground.

However, I do feel that such a painful and scarring act should not be inflicted upon a criminal of a minor offense. Certainly in this case Oliver Fricker did not deserve the caning (neither did Michael Fay a few years ago). The main crime he committed was vandalism of the SMRT train. This action is easily reversible and is not a show of violence. It does not directly inflict harm on anybody either. However, he was still given three strokes of the cane and sentenced to five months jail (now possibly nine months). Indeed, a jail term of nine months would seem more appropriate to vandalism and trespassing, but the caning seems disproportionate to the crime that he had committed. This is also similar to the Michael Fay incident, where vandalism was also the main crime.

The effects of caning are not only the immediate physical and mental discomfort, but also the lifelong scar and reminder of his childishness. While this may be an effective method of deterrence both to him in the future and to others, it is only one of many punishment possibilities. Yes, I know that during the CA session I mentioned that other alternatives such as jailing and corrective work order turn up to be largely ineffective, and fines are too mere an effort to be considered as punishment for vandalism. Still, there are various combinations of methods that could work out as plausible alternatives. For example, counselling in combination with jailing could be a humane and mentality-directed method to curb the recurrence of the criminal actions. It is definitely more effective to sort somebody's thinking straight than to repeatedly cane him.

Judicial punishment in Singapore today seems like an effective way to drive off investors and possible foreign talents due to the strict law regulations in Singapore. If a young graduate fresh out of university were to think rationally, he probably would not choose Singapore as a work arena because one little slip would cost him his entire life. (Of course there are other reasons but I'm not going into that.) Is it alright to sacrifice the chances of foreign talents choosing Singapore over other industrialized countries just to show how Singapore doesn't tag along with other countries?

In conclusion, obviously caning should be used for extremely serious offences, but really, can vandalism be counted?

1:03 PM

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i'm alvin.
i come from hwa chong institution in singapore.
i'm in class 2i2. yes, i'm a sparkie.
i'm 14+ years old; celebrated my bdae on feb 12.
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