Singaporeans' support for the death penalty – Sources

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1. The Singapore government often claims that the vast majority of Singaporeans support the death penalty, especially when used against drug trafficking.
2. A 2023 survey by the Ministry of Home Affairs found that 69%–88% of respondents supported the death penalty for drug trafficking, firearm offences, and intentional murder. 
   
3. A 2018 survey with 1500 respondents published by the NUS Faculty of Law found that 87% of respondents (page 12) supported the death penalty for drug trafficking when asked about it generally. 
4. 60% of those who supported the death penalty (representing 54% of total respondents) actually want it to be discretionary (page 12) instead of mandatory. 
5. Under Singapore law, persons convicted of drug trafficking offences would receive a mandatory death sentence, meaning a judge cannot impose any other sentence. Note: Under the Misuse of Drugs Act s33B, the court has the discretion to impose life imprisonment instead of the death penalty under narrow circumstances. 
6. 47% (page 16) of those who supported the death penalty for drug trafficking would actually oppose it if evidence proves that the death penalty is not a better deterrent than life imprisonment. 
   
7. In an example case (page 32, Case 7) involving 25kg of heroin trafficked by a person previously convicted of heroin possession, only 47% supported the death penalty. 
8. In another case (page 34, Case 10) involving a previously-convicted drug dealer who was caught with 500g of cannabis at home, only 33% supported the death penalty. 
   
9. In both mitigating cases (page 33, Cases 8 & 9), the person was caught with drugs in their suitcase when entering Singapore, but claimed that they were doing someone else a favour and didn’t know the suitcase contained drugs. Support for the death penalty was at an extremely low 17% and 21%. 
   
10. When asked why the death penalty is mandatory instead of leaving the decision up to the courts to decide, then-Law Minister K Shanmugam said that the judges themselves told his ministry that they don’t want that discretion. “No judge wants that responsibility,” he said.