Low murder rates here, continued vigilance against violence needed: Shanmugam

There are few murders in Singapore, and the rate of solving such crimes here is also "very high", said Law Minister K Shanmugam in a Facebook post on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
There are few murders in Singapore, and the rate of solving such crimes here is also "very high", said Law Minister K Shanmugam in a Facebook post on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - There are few murders in Singapore, and the rate of solving such crimes here is also "very high", said Law Minister K Shanmugam in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Singapore registered 11 murders in the year 2012, translating into one murder for every 480,000 persons. Mr Shanmugam contrasted this with Honduras, "the world's most violent country", where one in every 1,100 residents was killed.

"It is worth noting that we also have a very high solutions rate for murder - which is somewhere in the region of 90 per cent, against the global solutions rate of about 43 per cent," he added.

But it is important that Singapore remain vigilant even as homicide rates are low, noted Mr Shanmugam. He pointed to a recent research study of Singapore's homicide trends by two Ministry of Home Affairs senior officers which found a number of instances of group violence in Singapore between male gangs that have led to deaths.

"Instances of violence should be reviewed regularly to see if the current legal and enforcement frameworks can be more targeted and, hence, more effective," he said. "We need to watch out for this emerging sub-cultures of violence among socially disenfranchised groups."

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