MHA-commissioned studies show strong support for death penalty in Singapore

Chia Han Keong
·Editor
Updated ·4 min read
The Ministry of Home Affairs (left) releases results of 3 studies on death penalty in Singapore. (PHOTO: Google Maps/Getty Images)
The Ministry of Home Affairs (left) releases results of 3 studies on death penalty in Singapore. (PHOTO: Google Maps/Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — More than seven in 10 Singaporeans in studies commissioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) support the use of the death penalty for the most serious of crimes such as intentional murder, use of firearms and drug trafficking.

In fact, such sentiment extends to regional cities, where over 86 per cent of respondents living outside of Singapore felt the death penalty deters people from committing serious crimes in the city-state.

These findings were released on MHA's website on Wednesday (19 October), the culmination of three separate studies which were either commissioned or conducted by the ministry:

  • A survey of Singapore residents’ attitudes towards the death penalty, conducted by the MHA Research and Statistics Division (RSD) in 2021;

  • A study on attitudes towards the use of capital punishment, commissioned by MHA in 2019 and conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS);

  • A study on the 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 2018 and 2021.

Use of death penalty as punishment for the most serious of crimes

MHA said that the studies showed a very strong support among Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) for the use of the death penalty as punishment for the most serious of crimes.

In the IPS study, 74 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty is justified for the most serious of crimes. The percentage was similar in the RSD study, which had 73.7 per cent of respondents feeling the same way.

When asked about the death penalty being mandatory for the most serious crimes, a majority said it was appropriate.

The IPS study, which had 2,000 respondents aged 18 and above, found that a majority agreed the death penalty should be mandatory for intentional murder (71.4 per cent), trafficking a substantial amount of drugs (61.5 per cent) and the illegal use of firearms (60.1 per cent).

The corresponding figures in the RSD study are: 80.5 per cent for intentional murder, 71.1 per cent for use of firearms, and 65.6 per cent for trafficking drugs.

Discretionary death penalty vs life imprisonment

In the RSD study, respondents who said they were neutral or disagreed with the mandatory death penalty (34.4 per cent) were probed further, and asked to choose between a discretionary death penalty and life imprisonment as the more appropriate punishment for drug trafficking.

Of these, 22.6 per cent chose the discretionary death penalty, 61.6 per cent chose life imprisonment, and 15.8 per cent said they did not know.

A majority (67 per cent) of those who chose the discretionary death penalty for drug trafficking said they believed the authorities would be in a better position to decide on whether the death penalty should be given to the offender.

Respondents who felt that life imprisonment was a more appropriate punishment mostly cited a preference for rehabilitating offenders, or were pro-life in nature.

Regional respondents have similar sentiments

The studies found that most Singaporeans and PRs agree that the death penalty is effective in deterring serious crimes, with about 78.2 per cent saying so in the IPS study.

In the RSD survey, at least 79 per cent of respondents also believed that removing the death penalty would likely increase the amount of drugs trafficked into Singapore, and the number of firearm offences and murders here.

In the regional study conducted by MHA's Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre, which had 7,221 respondents from six regional cities, 86 per cent of those living outside of Singapore in the region also felt the death penalty deters people from committing serious crimes.

The study also found that 89.2 per cent of respondents were confident in Singapore’s law enforcement, and 91 per cent agreed that Singapore’s strict laws have been effective in preventing crime.

The six regional cities in the study were not identified.

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