Debated in Parliament on 25 Mar 2020.
Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past five years, how many persons have escaped the imposition of the mandatory caning sentences upon being convicted for committing serious sexual offences such as rape by reason of them being above the age of 50; and (b) whether the Government has plans to remove the age requirement in order that all such convicted persons, irrespective of their age, will be imposed caning sentences so long as they are assessed to be medically fit.
There are two serious sexual offences in the Penal Code that attract mandatory caning, namely: aggravated rape and aggravated sexual assault by penetration. In the past five years, 13 offenders above 50 years old were convicted of these offences. Caning was not imposed on them, as they were above 50 years old.
For such offenders, the courts have the discretion to impose an additional imprisonment term of up to 12 months in lieu of the caning.
The Government regularly reviews Singapore’s criminal justice policies, including our policy on caning. We will provide an update if there are changes to this policy.
Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the hon Senior Parliamentary Secretary for her answer. I have a supplementary question, but before that, on a point of elucidation, the focus of my question is whether using the age of 50 is a rational and reasonable differentiating measure to distinguish between those who will be visited with a minimum mandatory caning sentence for committing serious sexual offences on one hand, and those who have committed such offences but escape it because they are above 50.
With your leave, Sir, may I be allowed to use the screen on a point of information?
Yes, please. [Slides were shown to hon Members.]
Obliged. Sir, this is the Criminal Procedure Code in 1900, about 120 years ago, where the stipulation of 50 years is stated at section 278. The life expectancy of persons then, you would see, Sir, was about 48.5 years, in around 1900. So, quite clearly, if I could say it, age 50 then would have been age about 80-plus now.
Finally, Sir, the Criminal Procedure Code in Malaysia; you could see that under section 289(C), males, even though they are above 50 years, but if they are convicted of serious sexual crimes, then they can be whipped, so long as they are medically fit.
So, my question to the hon Senior Parliamentary Secretary is, is there still a basis to maintain age of 50 as a differentiating measure?
I thank the Member for his supplementary question. Indeed, the age limit for caning is a colonial legacy passed by the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. And the Singapore courts have interpreted the age limit as a proxy to screen out those who are likely to be unfit for caning.
I take the point that the Member has made that health conditions have changed since then. The Government, as I have mentioned earlier, regularly reviews Singapore's criminal justice policies including our policies on caning. We will look at the trends and statistics of offenders above 50 years old who commit serious offences and review, among other things, the age limit of caning.
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