Today-Dec 20
Changing a law that exempts male rapists above the age of 50 from being caned may not adequately deter these culprits from targeting children, some lawyers said.
One proposed that it may be better to explore having chemical castration as a sentencing option for rapists, while another voiced concerns about health safety measures should men above 50 be caned. They were responding to TODAY regarding President Halimah Yacob’s suggestion on Monday about this matter, saying that her intentions may be good but there are considerations to be made. Madam Halimah wrote on Facebook that she had noticed “highly disturbing and sickening” cases involving the rapes of children in their own homes by their male relatives and called for a review of the law on caning criminals to protect children. Mr Chooi Jing Yen, a partner at law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, said that if her suggestion were made on the principle of deterrence, then a study needs to be done to examine whether caning has indeed helped to prevent crimes from happening. Aside from rape, other crimes that include mandatory caning in Singapore are drug trafficking and illegal money lending. Mr Chooi added that changing the laws to allow rapists above the age of 50 to be caned would also mean carving out an exception for an offence.
He referred to Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code as a blanket provision and said that he has yet to come across a case that has been exempted from it.
“As long as you hit one of these criteria, then you simply will not be given a sentence of caning.” The “criteria” are: Being a woman, Being a man above the age of 50
Being a man on death row whose sentence has not been changed to another that is less severe. Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code exempts these people from being caned. The law does not state the reason for the exemption, but the health of the convict to be caned is a key consideration. What the law states is that a convict who cannot be caned may be given an extra jail sentence of up to 12 months instead. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/caning-rapists-age-50-chemical-castration-changes-law-debate-parliament-lawyers-2075451
