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These 3 cases throws up moral questions of what the appropriate punishments, if that is what is deserved, or whether there should indeed be some other alternative remedies in cases involving people of low IQ.
Is the alternative sentence announced by DPM Teo — life in prison with caning — for low IQ persons an appropriate, and humane, sentence?
This question itself is appropriate, given what Law Minister, K Shanmugam, had said, when explaining the reasons for the changes to the mandatory death penalty.
"This change will ensure that our sentencing framework properly balances the various objectives: justice to the victim, justice to society, justice to the accused, and mercy in appropriate cases," he said.
He added, "Justice can be tempered with mercy and, where appropriate, offenders should be given a second chance."
What does this "second chance" mean, especially for those whom the State itself has determined to have sub-normal intellect?
Read the full article, written by Andrew Loh, on Yahoo Singapore here.
Andrew's passion are social and political issues. His writings have been reproduced in other publications, including the Australian Housing Journal in 2010. Andrew also writes weekly for Yahoo Singapore which nominated him as one of Singapore's most influential media persons in 2011 and cited him for having "pioneered a new form of journalism in Singapore - the kind that dared to speak truth to power."
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