• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Lawyer argues for more sentencing options for offenders with mental disorders

by ariffinsha
03/12/2019
in Current Affairs
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0

Mr Chooi Jing Yen, Partner at ETLLP

By Chooi Jing Yen, Partner at Eugene Thuraisingam LLP
The Courts have said, time and again, that the current sentencing options in respect of mentally disordered offenders are inadequate and unsatisfactory.
The latest example comes in the bizarre case of the driver who drove at high speeds against traffic on the AYE in December 2016, causing one death and injuries to several others. It was later revealed that he was suffering from acute psychosis, and had since become compliant with treatment and medication.
In sentencing him 3 years later, Judicial Commissioner Vincent Hoong was concerned with protecting the greater public interest in preventing future recurrences of this episode, but noted that the law did not empower him to make an order mandating periodic medical assessments and review of the offender’s mental health condition in future (PP v Lim Chai Heng [2019] SGHC 272 at [121]). And so, he meted out an imprisonment sentence of one year, giving primacy to the principle of retribution.
Earlier this year, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon had noted that the current Mandatory Treatment Order regime precludes offenders who had previously been sentenced to terms of corrective training or preventive detention for offences connected to a previously undiagnosed psychiatric condition (PP v Low Ji Qing [2019] SGHC 174 at [96]). It would also preclude offenders who had previously served terms of corrective training or preventive detention and only thereafter become afflicted wtih a psychiatric condition.
And as early as 2006, then-Justice V K Rajah had said:-

The current position, where the courts are neither empowered nor endowed with any discretion whatsoever to customise or tailor their sentences in a manner that would be consistent with either the possible recovery or decline of the medical condition of an offender who is unwell, is far from satisfactory. Judges often have to choose between a rock and a hard place when resolving their colliding instincts in determining the appropriate sentence. Should the offender’s medical condition stabilise without any real risk of a relapse it would be quite unjust for him or her to continue to be incarcerated after rehabilitation through medical attention when he or she no longer poses any further risk to the public upon a return to the community. … In order to properly and fairly sentence offenders whose medical condition might potentially be reversed through medical attention and/or with the passage of time, the courts should be conferred the discretion to impose a sentence band with appropriate minimum and maximum sentences tied to periodical medical assessments and reviews. This will minimise the rather unscientific and imprecise conjecture that is now inevitably prevalent when determining appropriate sentences for such offenders. The proposed approach, while fairer to offenders, will also concomitantly serve to address and assuage public interest concerns on adequate sentencing as well as protection from mentally ill offenders with a propensity for violence.

PP v Chee Cheong Hin Constance [2006] 2 SLR(R) 707 at [29].

The question can be put this way. If the courts have accepted that a person had committed an offence because of a mental illness or disorder, then would the public be better served if he were incarcerated for (1) a long period of time; or (2) a shorter period of time (or not at all, in the appropriate case) but with the relevant mandatory orders that he seek treatment so as to reduce the likelihood future recidivism? By all accounts, Mr Lim Chai Heng had suffered from a sudden episode of acute psychosis with no warning signs. The threat of future danger to the public would be much reduced were he to be cured (if that is possible), and not simply locked up.
The Courts want to help us, but are constrained by the current legislation. The inadequacies in our criminal justice system have been quite clearly exposed. Are we going to see change soon?

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.
Tags: Chooi Jing YenCourtsCriminal LawEugene Thuraisingam LLPLawSentencing Options

Related Posts

Comments

Netizens ask: Isn’t a fine of $1,400 and a one-year driving ban too light for the crime of killing three people?

16/07/2020
Current Affairs

Tribunal: Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam’s Poem was not “a deliberate assault upon judicial integrity”

02/11/2018
Court Cases

Criminal and Human Rights Lawyer Fined $6,000 for a Poem on Death Penalty that “Scandalised the Judicary”

07/08/2017
Law & Order

Singapore’s Apex Court: “Powerful Probability” of Miscarriage of Justice in Death Penalty Case

02/08/2017
Court Cases

No Innocent Explanation? – Death Row Inmate’s Lawyers use Evidence Adduced by the Prosecution to Seek Inmate’s Second Acquittal

02/08/2017
ASEAN

Cambodian NGO engages local law firm to look into complicity of Singaporean Entities in 'environmental destruction' arising from Sand Mining

03/01/2017
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

A multi-party parliament is the only way to make sure that Singapore continues to not condone or tolerate corruption

03/02/2023
Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

03/02/2023
Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023

The Keppel bribery scandal tests Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption

02/02/2023
Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

02/02/2023
US businesses ‘fear internet curbs in Hong Kong’

Hong Kong offers free flights after COVID isolation

02/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

02/02/2023
India’s Adani shares plunge again after stock sale cancelled

India’s Adani empire loses more than US$100 bn after fraud claims

02/02/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
33

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

by Leong Szehian
28/01/2023
69

...

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

by Terry Xu
31/01/2023
39

...

December 2019
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Nov   Jan »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz