Skip to main content

MHA survey finds growing support among Singapore residents for death penalty in most serious crimes

SINGAPORE: 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.

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.

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.

Source: channelnewsasia.com, Staff, September 19, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Labels:
Location: Singapore

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement.  “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”
Post a Comment
Read more

USA | Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?

New drugs and med­ical treat­ments under­go rig­or­ous test­ing to ensure they are safe and effec­tive for pub­lic use. Under fed­er­al and state reg­u­la­tions, this test­ing typ­i­cal­ly involves clin­i­cal tri­als with human sub­jects, who face sig­nif­i­cant health and safe­ty risks as the first peo­ple exposed to exper­i­men­tal treat­ments. That is why the law requires them to be ful­ly informed of the poten­tial effects and give their vol­un­tary con­sent to par­tic­i­pate in trials. Yet these reg­u­la­tions have not been fol­lowed when states seek to use nov­el and untest­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods — sub­ject­ing pris­on­ers to poten­tial­ly tor­tur­ous and uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly painful deaths. Some experts and advo­cates argue that states must be bound by the eth­i­cal and human rights prin­ci­ples of bio­med­ical research before using these meth­ods on prisoners.
Post a Comment
Read more

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester.  Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Read more

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application.  Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.
Post a Comment
Read more

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Post a Comment
Read more

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.
Post a Comment
Read more

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.
Post a Comment
Read more

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.
Post a Comment
Read more

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again.  Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams.  Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium. 
Read more

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.
Post a Comment
Read more