Transcript Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment
Essay Questions
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What do you consider to be effective means of keeping
law and order in today’s society? (Cambridge 1988)
Consider the arguments for and against the use of death
penalty in a modern society. (Cambridge 1997)
“Juvenile delinquency is on the rise because parents are
not doing their job.” What do you think? (YJC)
“The abolition of capital punishment is a humane but
unwise move.” Discuss. (CJC)
The threat of global terrorism is a destabilising force in
today’s world. Give your views. (JJC)
Crime – a definition
A violation of norm that has been entered into
law and is backed by the power and authority
of the state to impose formal sanctions eg.
fines, arrest and imprisonment
Causes of crime
Are criminals born or made?
Nurture (Social and Economic factors)
 Weakening family institution
“In my judgement, one of the basic reasons we have had
crime, lawlessness and disorder in the United States has
been the breakdown of the family unit.”
Robert F Kennedy

Violence and sexual permissiveness in the
media
Causes of crime
 Poverty
“ Nothing incites to money-crimes like great poverty or
great wealth.” Mark Twain
 High
unemployment rate
 Consumerist and materialistic culture
 Individualistic society
 Decaying morals and religious foundation
with rising secularism
Causes of crime

Discrimination and oppression
 Inadequate social control
 Easy availability of drugs and weapons
 Peer influence
Causes of crime
Nature (Inborn traits)
 Weak-willed character
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Low level of self-discipline
Susceptible to temptation
 Psychiatric
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
disorder
Schizophrenia
Psychopathy
Causes of crime
 Genetic

Disposition
Genetically predisposed to crimes
Types of Crime
1. Violent & Property
Crime
crimes that cause
serious harm to
people or property
Examples
 Crime against a
person
- murder, rape, assault
 Crime against
property
- arson, vandalism
The
murder of
James
Bulger
Types of Crime
2. Crimes without Victims Examples
aka Crime against Public
Order and Morality
•acts viewed as
criminal because the
society as a whole
regards them as
morally repugnant
•Prostitution
•illegal sexual acts
among consenting
adults
•drug abuse
violations
•Illegal gambling
Types of Crime
3. Organised Crime
Examples
a self-perpetuating conspiracy
that operates for profit or power
and that seeks to obtain immunity
from the law through fear and
corruption (Abadinsky, 1981)
Providing illegal goods and
services:
-selling illegal drugs,
- loan sharking
the unlawful activities of the
members of a highly organized,
disciplined association
engaged in supplying illegal
goods and services
Providing legal goods and services
by illegal means:
- monopolise public services by
bribing public officials &
threatening violence against
potential competitors
- use legitimate companies to
“launder” money* earned through
their illegal activities
Types of Crime
4. White-collar &
Corporate Crime
White-collar crime
“a crime committed by
a person of
respectability and high
status in the course of
his occupation”
(Sutherland, 1949)
Examples
•illegal stock trading
•embezzling
•padding expense
accounts
•stealing from an employer
•evading personal income
taxes
•unethical or unfair
practices
Types of Crime
5. Terrorism
the unlawful use of force
or violence against
persons or property to
intimidate or coerce a
government or civilian
population, to achieve
political or other objectives
Examples
assassinations
bombings
arson
hostage-taking
hijacking
seizure
and occupation of a
building
ecological and high-tech
terrorism
Types of Crime
 Petty
crimes
 Cyber crime
 Telecommunication crimes
 Illegal groups
 Genocide
THE CONCEPT OF PUNISHMENT
Definition:
Punishment under law is the authorized
imposition of deprivations – of freedom or
privacy or other goods to which the person
otherwise has a right, or the imposition of
special burdens – because the person has
been found guilty of some criminal
violation, typically (though not invariably)
involving harm to the innocent.
Key ideas:
1.
Punishment is an authorized act, not an
incidental or accidental harm. It is an act of the
political authority having jurisdiction in the
community where the harmful wrong occurred.
2. Specifying the deprivation as a deprivation of
rights is a helpful reminder that a crime is
(among other things) a violation of the victim's
rights, and the harm thus done is akin to the
kind of harm a punishment does.
3. Punishment is a human institution, not a natural
event outside human purposes, intentions, and
acts.
4. Punishment is imposed on persons who are
believed to have acted wrongly. Being found
guilty by persons authorized to make such a
finding, and based on their belief in the
person's guilt, is a necessary condition of
justified punishment. Actually being guilty is
not.
Purpose of Punishment
1.
Deterrence
General – punishing this ∆ deters others
Specific – punishing this ∆ to deter this ∆
Purpose of Punishment
2. Incapacitation/Protection
Protect society by separating the criminal
either by incarceration or stigmatization
Purpose of Punishment
3. Rehabilitation
Cure the ∆ to prevent future crimes
Purpose of Punishment
4. Retribution

Punish the ∆ because he “deserves” it
– “eye for an eye”

Punish ∆ to pay his “debt to society” so
that he can be reinstated to society’s
protection and benefits
Types of Punishment
 Probation
 Fine
 Imprisonment
 Monetary
compensation
 Exile
 Home
detention (House arrest)
Types of Punishment
 Corporal


Punishment
the legal imposition of physical pain on the
convicted offender
E.g. caning, castration
 Capital
Punishment / Death Penalty
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Capital punishment is the lawful
infliction of death as a punishment.
THE DEATH PENALTY
THE DEATH PENALTY

History / Background
 Methods
 Arguments For and Against
 The Death Penalty in Singapore
BACKGROUND
ancient times (18th – 5th Century
B.C), the death penalty has been used for
a variety of offences
 Common methods then : Crucifixion,
stoning, drowning, beating to death and
burning alive
 By 1500 in England, many people put to
death for felonies like treason, rape,
burglary, murder and arson
 Since
BACKGROUND
 Britain
influenced America's use of the
death penalty more than any other country
did.
 Major reforms of the death penalty began
in Europe by the 1750s
 Many nations began to abolish the death
penalty. E.g Venezuela (1853), Portugal
(1867) and in the US, Michigan (1847)
Overview of the death penalty
during 2003
Amnesty International recorded that at least
 1,146 prisoners were executed in 28
countries
 2,756 people were sentenced to death in
63 countries.
 84 per cent of all known executions took
place in China, Iran, the USA and Vietnam
Overview of the death penalty
during 2003
Amnesty International recorded that
 a total of 117 countries have abolished the death
penalty in law or practice.
 78 other countries retain and use the death
penalty
 Over 35 countries and territories have abolished
the death penalty for all crimes since 1990. (E.g
S Africa, Mauritius, HK, Poland, Canada)
METHODS
Electrocution
METHODS
Lethal Injection
METHODS
Shooting
METHODS
BEHEADING
METHODS
Hanging
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
“The death penalty is a necessary tool to fight
and deter crime. Capital punishment deters
crime by causing would-be murderers to
fear arrest and conviction and by preventing
convicted murderers from killing again. In
recent years, violent crime in New York has
dropped dramatically, due in part to the
reinstitution of the death penalty.”
George E. Pataki, Republican governor of NY
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
“Obviously people fear death more than life
imprisonment. Only death is final. Where
there is life there is hope. Actual murderers feel
that way: 99.9 per cent prefer life imprisonment
to death. So will prospective murderers. What
is feared most deters most.”
Ernest van den Haag, Retired Professor at
Fordham University
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
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“The death penalty is a necessary
tool to fight and deter crime.
Capital punishment deters crime
by causing would-be murderers
to fear arrest and conviction and
by preventing convicted
murderers from killing again. In
recent years, violent crime in New
York has dropped dramatically,
due in part to the reinstitution of
the death penalty.”
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“Obviously people fear death more
than life imprisonment. Only
death is final. Where there is life
there is hope. Actual murderers
feel that way: 99.9 per cent prefer
life imprisonment to death. So will
prospective murderers. What is
feared most deters most.”
Incapacitation
deterrence
George E. Pataki,
Republican governor of NY
Ernest van den Haag,
Retired Professor at Fordham
University
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
“But even if an execution has only a small
chance of deterring future murders, the
murderer should be executed because he
has, through his crime, forfeited his life.
Capital punishment satisfies justice, and the
fact that it may also save lives is enough to
favour the execution of convicted
murderers.”
Ernest van den Haag,
Retired Professor at Fordham University
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
“For beyond deterrence … there is justice.
The thought that the man who cruelly and
deliberately slaughtered your child for fun or
profit is entitled peacefully to live out his days
at taxpayers’ expense, playing tennis or
baseball or enjoying the prison library, is hard
to stomach.”
ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEATH
PENALTY
“
But even if an execution has
only a small chance of
deterring future murders, the
murderer should be executed
because he has, through his
crime, forfeited his life. Capital
punishment satisfies justice,
and the fact that it may also
save lives is enough to favour
the execution of convicted
murderers.”
“For beyond deterrence
… there is justice. The
thought that the man who
cruelly and deliberately
slaughtered your child for
fun or profit is entitled
peacefully to live out his
days at taxpayers’
expense, playing tennis
or baseball or enjoying
the prison library, is hard
to stomach.”
RETRIBUTION
COST
Ernest
van den Haag, Retired
Professor at Fordham
University
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“I think that the only purpose of the death
penalty, as I see it, is vengeance-pure and
simple vengeance. But I think vengeance is a
very personal feeling and I don’t think it is
something that civilized government should
engage in.”
Janet Reno, Attorney General of the US
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“Capital punishment fails as a deterrent because
murderers who premeditate about a killing do not expect
to get caught, and spontaneous, emotional murderers
are incapable of thinking rationally about the
consequences of their act.
Retribution also fails as a reason to execute criminals
because capital punishment violates a society’s selfrespect and humanity, and it is not always possible in a
court of law to fairly and unemotionally make the
decision to execute someone.
Michael Ross, “A View from Death Row” (Inmate convicted of
murder in the deaths of 5 girls and a woman in 1987)
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“I think that the only purpose of the
death penalty, as I see it, is
vengeance-pure and simple
vengeance. But I think vengeance
is a very personal feeling and I
don’t think it is something that
civilized government should
engage in.”
“Capital punishment fails as a
deterrent because murderers who
premeditate about a killing do not
expect to get caught, and
spontaneous, emotional murderers
are incapable of thinking rationally
about the consequences of their act.
barbaric
Retribution also fails as a reason to
execute criminals because capital
punishment violates a society’s
self-respect and humanity, and it
is not always possible in a court of
law to fairly and unemotionally
make the decision to execute
someone.
Does not
deter crime
Janet Reno, Attorney
General of the US
Michael Ross, “A
View from Death Row” (Inmate
convicted of murder in the deaths of
5 girls and a woman in 1987)
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“… capital punishment actually makes the fight against
crime more difficult. Executions waste valuable
resources that could be applied to more promising
efforts to protect the public. Additionally, innocent
people are sometimes executed and the brutalizing
effect executions have on society may result in more
murders. For these reasons, the death penalty should
be opposed.”
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney
Manhattan
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“Capital cases are a nightmare for the entire justice
system. Police chiefs recognize that death penalty
cases are particularly burdensome in the early
stages. Two-thirds of the police chiefs polled said
that death penalty cases are hard to close and take
up a lot of police time.”
Richard C Dieter, Death Penalty Information
Centre
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“… capital punishment actually
makes the fight against crime
more difficult. Executions
waste valuable resources
that could be applied to more
promising efforts to protect
the public. Additionally,
innocent people are
sometimes executed and the
brutalizing effect executions
have on society may result in
more murders. For these
reasons, the death penalty
should be opposed.”
“Capital cases are a nightmare
for the entire justice system.
Police chiefs recognize that
death penalty cases are
particularly burdensome in
the early stages. Two-thirds of
the police chiefs polled said
that death penalty cases are
hard to close and take up a lot
of police time.”
Innocent lives taken
COST
Robert M. Morgenthau,
District Attorney Manhattan
Richard C Dieter,
Death Penalty Information
Centre
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
“… …Additionally, innocent people are
sometimes executed and the brutalizing
effect executions have on society may
result in more murders. For these
reasons, the death penalty should be
opposed.”
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE
DEATH PENALTY
Brutalizing effect
“… the death penalty tends to devalue human
life and sends a message that tells citizens that
killing people under some circumstances is
appropriate.”
“…state-sanctioned executions brutalize the
sensibilities of society, making potential
murderers less inhibited.”
THE DEATH PENALTY IN
SINGAPORE
 Method
- Hanging
 Who?
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Murderers
Drug traffickers (>15g heroine, >30g
morphine/cocaine, >500g cannabis)
Tough drug laws enacted in 1975 made the death
sentence mandatory for trafficking

Kidnappers
 70%
of hangings are for drug offences
THE DEATH PENALTY IN
SINGAPORE

In a rare comment about the death penalty, Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong mentioned in an interview on BBC HARDtalk program
in 2003 :
"I think probably it will be in the region of about 70 to 80 (first 9
months of 2003). I do not know the precise number, I stand to be
corrected,"
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The government confirmed later that 28 people had been executed in
2002, 27 in 2001 and 21 in 2000, without giving confirmed figures for
2003.

When asked why he did not know exactly how many people had
been executed this year, PM Goh replied: "I have got more important
issues to worry about.”
THE DEATH PENALTY IN
SINGAPORE
 Amnesty
- Singapore has one of the
highest execution rates in the world
relative to its population
 Western critics point to the "right to life" as
a fundamental reason to abolish the death
penalty
THE DEATH PENALTY IN
SINGAPORE
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew :
"The basic difference in our approach springs from our
traditional Asian value system which places the interests of
the community over and above that of the individual,"
Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in a
speech.
"In criminal law legislation, our priority is the security and
well being of law-abiding citizens rather than the rights of
the criminal to be protected from incriminating evidence."
Criminal Justice in
Singapore
Court of Appeal
Supreme
Court
High Court
District Courts
Subordinate
Courts
Magistrates' Courts
Commercial Criminal Courts and
Special Trial Courts
Coroners' Court
Family Court
Juvenile Court
Small Claims Tribunal
Supreme Court
Chief Justice and Judges of of the High Court
High Court
Civil claims
more than $100,000
Probate cases of
more than $3 million
Criminal cases where
the punishment is
death or life imprisonment
Court of Appeal
Hears appeals
against judgment
from High Court
and other lower
courts
Criminal and Civil Cases
 Criminal
cases are those initiated by the
state against and individual or group.
 Civil
cases are those initiated by
individuals who have been aggrieved by
another individual or group.
divorce
Mandatory Sentences

For certain crimes the judges have to give a punishment
stipulated by law. No variation or discretion is allowed.
Death 15g of heroin 30g of cocaine - 30g of morphine
500g
of cannabis
- 1.2kg of opium 200g of cannabis resin
Caning: illegal immigration, vandalism, rape,
It is a cardinal principle of morality, justice and democratic
government that an offender guilty of a crime should be
sentenced by the court to such penalty as his crime merits
taking account of all the circumstances including the
nature of the crime, the circumstances of the offender, the
effect of the crime on the victim and the victim’s family, the need
to prevent the offender from re offending and deter others from
offending in the same way and the need to protect the public.
Chief Justice and Judges of of the High Court
Subordinate Courts
12 strokes of the cane
District Courts
imprisonment <10 years
fine <$100,000
Magistrates' Courts
6 strokes of the cane
imprisonment <3 years
a fine < $30,000
Coroners' Court
Determination of cause of death
Juvenile Court
Child below 14
Young Person below 16
Family Court
Divorce, Maintenance, Custody
Small Claims Tribunal
Claims not exceeding
$10,000
Commercial Criminal Courts and
Special Trial Courts
Procedures in Juvenile Cases
Rationale for Punishment in Juvenile
Cases
• rehabilitation and reformation of the
offender;
• removal of him/her from undesirable
surroundings;
• promoting his/her education and welfare;
• compensation of victim(s) involved;
• protection of public;
• minimizing the risk of further offending by
the offender; and
• punishment of offender
Options Available in Juvenile Cases
Commit the offender to the care of a relative or other fit
person
Offender's Parent or Guardian to execute a bond to
exercise proper care and Guardianship
Community service order
Probation order
Detention at a Place of Detention
Weekend Detention at a Place of Detention or
Approved Institution
Approved School Order
Reformative Training Centre
Payment of a fine, damages or costs
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