Criminal
Penal Code offences, mandatory sentences and judicial corporal punishment
The Penal Code, inherited from India and heavily revised in 2019, is the core statute. Singapore retains the death penalty for murder and serious drug trafficking, mandatory minimum sentences and caning for a defined list of offences.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — State Courts hear the bulk of criminal matters; the General Division of the High Court takes capital and the most serious cases.
Governing law
- Penal Code 1871revised 2019
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1973
- Criminal Procedure Code 2010
In practice
The Misuse of Drugs Act presumes trafficking above threshold quantities and carries a mandatory death sentence for the largest, subject since 2012 to a narrow alternative of life imprisonment with caning where the accused was only a courier and cooperated substantively or has a mental disability. Caning is mandatory for offences including rape, robbery and certain immigration breaches, and is not imposed on women or men over fifty. The 2019 review repealed marital immunity for rape and modernised sexual offences. Accused persons have no automatic right to counsel at the earliest stages of police investigation, which is a recurring point of criticism.