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Has Deterrence Worked?

The main argument put forth in favour of the death penalty is that it deters potential wrongdoers. While this is logically plausible, the empirical evidence has been far from conclusive. Prominent death penalty supporter, Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker, admits that the available data is quite limited. John Donohue and Justin Wolfers warn against basing public policy on uncertain data.

If the death penalty were an effective deterrent, one might expect that the drug trade in Singapore would have been substantially eliminated, as the War on Drugs' began in full force during the 1970s. Yet while the death penalty has been in existence for several decades, authorities have not been able to eliminate the drug trade. Even though the law was amended in 1998 to introduce a mandatory death sentence for importing, exporting or trafficking more than 250 grams of methamphetamine, year-to-year reports by Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau sometimes show an increase in new abusers of this drug.

This suggests two things. First, those caught by authorities and put to death are not the "kingpins". They are low-level "mules" that merely transport illegal substances. Second, the amount of black-market profits involved in the drug trade probably far outweighs the risk of being caught or - for the ringleaders - the cost of losing a few low-level employees. Prohibiting drugs has not eliminated their availability, but has cost the lives of many potentially productive citizens who could have been rehabilitated instead of being hanged. A better way to deter crime is to increase the certainty of detection, arrest and conviction.

CONCLUSION

The UN has recommended the death penalty be reserved for the most serious crimes, and that judges always be given discretion on its application. Singapore's criminal laws do not pass such a test; indeed, law enforcement officials have many opportunities to abuse their power over private citizens. There are no jury trials in Singapore.

It is easy to be critical of Singapore's laws. But it should be noted that its legal system is generally free of the corruption that plagues some other Asian countries. All capital crimes proceed through an open court system, and political leaders ensure their actions are perceived to be in accordance with the law. Nonetheless, the high rate of executions in Singapore can be linked to systemic problems. In short, there are far too many offences that attract the death penalty; a total of 38 capital offences, to be precise (of these, 11 are contained in the Penal Code and 26 are in other Acts). It is time for reform.

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References

Becker, Gary, More on the Economics of Capital Punishment (2005) at 1 April 2008.

Donohue, John and Wolfers, Justin, The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence (2006) at 16 April 2008.

Amnesty International, Singapore: The death penalty - a hidden toll of executions (2004) at 27 March 2008.

Singapore, Parliamentary Debates, House, 23 October 2007 (Ho Peng Kee, Minister of State).

Learn more about this author, Sukrit Sabhlok.
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