In 2004, Amnesty International criticised Singapore for having “possibly the highest execution rate (per capita) in the world” due to its mandatory death penalty (MDP) for certain crimes, a law that has been described as “running counter to the worldwide trend towards abolition of the death penalty.”
Yet, supporters of the mandatory death penalty might argue that deterrence is necessary to ensure Singapore’s safety and security. Furthermore, as Singapore’s Ministry of Law asserted in a letter to the International Herald Tribune on 20 April 2011, the majority of Singaporeans support [the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking], and “were this not so, it would have become an election issue”. Is this a fair conclusion?
The debate is far from conclusive, and many more questions have been raised. For example, should death penalties be mandatory (ie. automatically applied) once a certain law has been breached? And if the possibility of human error exists, what happens when an innocent person is wrongly accused – and hung? And just how good a deterrent is it?
These lesson plans will lead students to information on current death row cases & stimulate discussion on the MDP for drug trafficking in Singapore.
View the lesson plans for teachers here: backtoschool.publichouse.sg .
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