Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
That's your logic, not mine. Don't put words in my mouth.
Parliament decides on the appropriate sentence for each crime and
the courts must ensure that the right sentence is meted out for a
particular crime. Caning is a very effective and at times a better
deterrent than jail time. It only makes sense that it should be
used more frequently to deter crime.
The Ruling Party controlling the
Singapore Parliament for the last 45 years of Singapore's history,
has taken the easy way out by slamming Singapore's social problems
with a gigantic sledge hammer.
Every petty crime is slammed with the harhest of punishment - petty
vandalism will require a minimum SIX strokes of the cane.
Six strokes of the cane are about the same amount given for armed
robbery.
There is no differentiation if the offender who committed vandalism
is due to some psychological dysfunction.
Has social problems been eradicated with all the harsh laws imposed
?
The amount of petty crime persist, vandalism continue, armed
robbery exist - and despite the ultimate punishment of death by
hanging, a spate of murder hit the headlines month after month in
2006.
Even the previous Chief Justice lamented that the Judiciary
is left without any room to mete out a less punishment when he
knows that the punishment is excessive for the crime
committed.
If one is to look at the National Budget, the amount spent to
support the social fabric of Singapore is negligible.
"Civil Society with an appreciation of fine arts" remains but a
slogan, as this Ruling Party maybe good at the mechanics of
infrastructural "hardware" development, but have shown themselves
to be poor "software" or "heartware" developers.
They have no clue as to how to bring Singapore forward and develop
it into a TRULY REFINED FIRST WORLD SOCIETY.
It is those without the capacity to think, nor the tolerance to
seek out the cure to social ills that will depend on violent
methods to tweak social behavior.
And you claim to be a Doctor in Medicine, a PhD holder from Oxford
?
You must be a joke to your profession and your alma mater.
