More flexibility in community-based sentencing possible: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — Community-based sentencing has proven successful so far, and the courts can be given more flexibility in this aspect, said Law Minister K Shanmugam.

Speaking at the 3rd Criminal Law Conference on Thursday (July 14), Mr Shanmugam cited the case of a sales manager who was nabbed for theft. The judge decided against imprisonment and focused instead on rehabilitation, ordering the man to complete 160 hours of community service. After clocking the hours, the man continued to volunteer together with his wife.

“So it’s possible to reform, change. You don’t always have to send people to prison. You don’t have to send everyone to prison,” said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister. “We’ll look at how from a policy perspective, there can be more scope for community-based sentencing and more flexibility.”

During the opening of the legal year in January, Attorney-General V K Rajah had said that his team would consider all possible options — including community sentences — for minor offences. Currently, such sentences are applicable to criminals who have not been jailed before, and have committed petty crimes.

The criminal justice system should focus on “keeping people out” after they serve their term, instead of merely focusing on nabbing criminals.

“I have put in a lot of emphasis in Home Affairs to focus on the post-release phase: Handholding, trying to find jobs for them, working with employers ... we are working on plans for that, to try to get the recidivism rate even lower,” said Mr Shanmugam.

The recidivism rate — or the percentage of local inmates who re-offended within two years from their release — was 25.9 per cent for the cohort released in 2013, and 27.6 per cent in 2012. In other comparable cities, said the minister, this is as high as 60 per cent.

Regardless of the city or country, the reasons were obvious, he added.

“When you come out, you are particularly vulnerable and the very people who got you into trouble in the first place are the people who come looking for you when you come out ... Very soon, you will find yourself back in prison.”

In his speech, Mr Shanmugam also noted that while Singapore has reduced its crime and drug rates, with citizens having trust and confidence in the justice system: “I tell the police not to self-congratulate too much ... as we look forward, we must know why we are here (and) what are the good parts of the system, and make sure we don’t alter them. Keep to the fundamentals and at the same time, evolve.”

Commenting on the emphasis on community-based sentencing at the conference, lawyer Shashi Nathan hopes the courts can be given more discretion. There have been many cases where the court has its “hands tied” because the crime was not on the list of acceptable offences for community-based sentencing, he said.

Lawyer Wendell Wong, co-chair of The Law Society of Singapore’s criminal practice committee, wants to see community-based sentencing become more holistic. “My main hope is that we can consider not just looking at the crime purely ... but also to look at it from the perspectives of the accused, the victim and the society.”

Noting that an offender has a clean record at the end of the sentence, Mr Shashi said: “It sends a correct message but also gives the offender a chance to rebuild his life.”