Findings from Recent Studies on the Death Penalty in Singapore

1.   The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) conducted or commissioned the following three studies on the use of the death penalty in Singapore, to better understand the views of Singapore residents and the perceptions of residents in regional cities:

(a)   Survey on Singapore Residents’ Attitudes towards the Death Penalty, conducted by the MHA Research and Statistics Division in 2021 (“RSD 2021”). 

(b)   Study on Attitudes towards the Use of Capital Punishment, commissioned by MHA in 2019 and conducted by Dr Carol Soon and Shawn Goh, Institute of Policy Studies (“IPS 2020”); and

(c)   Perception of Residents in Regional Cities on Singapore’s Crime Situation, Law and Safety, commissioned by the MHA Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre and conducted in two phases in 2018 and 2021 respectively (“HTBSC 2021”).

2.   The reports for these three studies can be found at MHA’s website under the ‘Publications’ section, or accessed via the URL links found in the Annex below.


Key Findings

Very Strong Support for the Use of the Death Penalty for the Most Serious Crimes

3.   The studies show that there is very strong support in Singapore among Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs), for Singapore’s use of the death penalty as punishment for the most serious crimes, such as intentional murder, use of firearms, and trafficking a significant amount of drugs.

(a)   In IPS 2020, 74% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty is justified for the most serious of crimes.

(b)   In RSD 2021, 73.7% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty should be used for the most serious crimes. Only 11.2% strongly disagreed or disagreed, with the remaining 15.1% indicating they were neutral.

4.   When asked specifically on the mandatory death penalty^[1], both studies found that majority of the respondents were of the view that it was appropriate for the death penalty to be mandatory for these serious crimes.

(a)   In IPS 2020:

(i)   71.4% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty should be mandatory for intentional murder;
(ii)   61.5% agreed or strongly agreed in relation to intentionally trafficking a substantial amount of drugs; and
(iii)   60.1% agreed in relation to the use of firearms.

(b)   In RSD 2021:

(i)   80.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the mandatory death penalty was appropriate as the punishment for intentional murder;
(ii)   71.1% agreed or strongly agreed in relation to the use of firearms; and
(iii)   65.6% agreed or strongly agreed in relation to trafficking a significant amount of drugs.

5.   Respondents in RSD 2021 who did not agree that the mandatory death penalty was appropriate for these three crimes were further asked whether the discretionary death penalty or life imprisonment would be more appropriate instead.

(a)   Within this group, some respondents preferred the discretionary death penalty over life imprisonment.

(b)   Taking these respondents into account, the study found that a large majority of all respondents agreed that some form of death penalty – whether mandatory or discretionary – was appropriate as punishment for these three crimes:

(i)   88.2% for intentional murder;
(ii)   82% for use of firearms; and
(iii)   73.4% for trafficking a significant amount of drugs.

Strong Agreement that the Death Penalty is Effective in Deterring Serious Crimes

6.   The studies found that most Singapore citizens and PRs agreed that the death penalty is effective in deterring serious crimes.

(a)   IPS 2020 found that:

(i)   78.2% of respondents believed that the death penalty serves as a deterrent for serious crimes in general.
(ii)   In relation to drug trafficking:

(1)   78.9% of respondents believed that the death penalty deters people from trafficking substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore; and
(2)   70.8% believed that it is more effective than life imprisonment in doing so.

(b)   Similarly, in RSD 2021, a large majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty in Singapore deters the trafficking of significant amounts of drugs (83.2%), firearm offences (85.9%), and intentional murder (85.9%). [see Table 12 of RSD 2021, reproduced below.]

(c)   In relation to drug trafficking,73.7% of respondents in RSD 2021 also agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment in deterring people from trafficking significant amount of drugs in Singapore.

Table 12: Respondents’ Perceptions on the Deterrent Effect of the Death Penalty

*Reproduced from RSD 2021

Most Residents of Regional Cities believe the Death Penalty Deters People from Trafficking Drugs into Singapore

7.   In addition, the perceptions of regional residents outside Singapore mirrored the strong agreement among Singapore citizens and PRs of the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

8.   In HTBSC 2021^[2], the study found that:

(a)   The vast majority of regional residents (87.2%) believed that the death penalty makes people not want to traffic substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore; and

(b)   82.5% believed that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment in deterring people from trafficking drugs into Singapore.

Very High Level of Confidence in Singapore’s Criminal Justice System

9.   In addition to attitudes toward the death penalty, RSD 2021 also surveyed respondents on their level of confidence in Singapore’s criminal justice system. The study found a very high level of confidence among Singapore citizens and PRs in Singapore’s criminal justice system.

(a)   The vast majority of respondents had confidence that accused persons in death penalty cases are subject to fair and rigorous investigations (88.5%).

(b)   The vast majority had confidence that accused persons in death penalty cases in Singapore undergo fair and rigorous trials (88.1%).

(c)   In addition, the vast majority also believed that there were adequate safeguards to ensure that there were no wrongful executions (85.3%).

[see Table 14 of RSD 2021, reproduced below]

Table 14: Respondents’ Confidence in the Singapore Criminal Justice System

*Reproduced from RSD 2021


Conclusion

10.   Overall, the studies show that there is very strong support among Singapore residents on Singapore’s use of the death penalty for the most serious crimes, such as intentional murder, use of firearms, and trafficking in substantial amounts of drugs.

11.   There is also a clear view, both domestically and within the region, that the death penalty is effective in deterring people from trafficking drugs into Singapore and is more effective than life imprisonment in doing so. 

12.   Finally, there is a very high level of public confidence that Singapore’s criminal justice system ensures fair and rigorous investigations and trials and provides adequate safeguards in capital cases.

[1] ‘Mandatory death penalty’ means that the sentencing court must impose the death penalty on the offender once he is found guilty of that crime, and has no power to impose any other type of sentence.

[2] The findings released at COS 2022 reflect the lowest value of support across all cities surveyed (i.e. more than a certain percentage of respondents across all cities agreed to the statement). However, for this finalised version of the study, the numbers reflect the lowest, average, and highest values of support across all cities surveyed.


Annexes
1.   MHA Research and Statistics Division, Survey on Singapore Residents’ Attitudes towards the Death Penalty 2021 (PDF, 160 KB)
 
2.   Dr Carol Soon and Shawn Goh, Institute of Policy Studies, Study on Attitudes towards the Use of Capital Punishment (2020) (PDF, 360 KB)

3.   MHA Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre, Perception of Residents in Regional Cities on Singapore’s Crime Situation, Law and Safety (2021) (PDF, 228 KB)

4.   Research Findings on Attitudes towards the Death Penalty in Singapore (PDF, 385 KB)