Advisory panel set up to prepare sentencing guidelines, which will be made available to the public

SINGAPORE - Members of the public will soon be able to refer to sentencing guidelines and frameworks to better understand the punishments meted out by the courts here.

A sentencing advisory panel has been set up to prepare and publish sentencing guidelines which will provide more consistency, transparency and public awareness, said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) in a statement on Thursday (June 2).

The panel, comprising judges, lawyers, and senior government officials, can propose approaches including sentencing bands based on harm and culpability and aggravating and mitigating factors.

The panel’s guidelines can be cited by the prosecution or the defence in their arguments in court but will not be legally binding, and the court can choose how and whether it should adopt the guidelines.

In response to queries on when the guidelines will be available, a spokesman for MinLaw said the panel is currently studying a few areas where the guidelines could potentially be useful.

Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said the establishment of the panel is a positive step as it will give members of the public an idea of what to expect when it comes to sentences.

He said: “There is sometimes a gap in knowledge among the public. They don’t know what sentences are usually given out and comment that the sentences imposed in some cases are too low or too high.

"This will give them more information to understand.”

With regard to judges being placed on the panel, he said there was no conflict of interest as the courts are not legally bound to follow the panel’s guidelines.

The MinLaw spokesman concurred and added that members from the judiciary participate in the panel in a non-judicial capacity. 

In announcing the panel in Parliament on March 5 last year as part of a review of the sentencing framework for sexual and hurt offences, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam noted that there were some cases relating to such offences which triggered much discussion on whether the sentences imposed were adequate.

The key function of the advisory panel will be to issue publicly available sentencing guidelines that will be persuasive but not binding on the courts, said Mr Shanmugam.

He added that his ministries had studied the experience in other jurisdictions, namely England, Wales and Scotland, in coming to the decision to set up the panel.

MinLaw said in its statement on Thursday that the panel will be chaired by Court of Appeal judge Steven Chong and comprises 11 other members.

Lawyer Sunil Sudheesan, who is on the panel, said: “The panel provides an added tool for the defence and prosecution to consider using in their submissions, but ultimately the Court decides the sentences.” 

Mr Sudheesan added that presently, in arguing cases in appeal courts, lawyers rely on statistics if they are available, and judgments, academic writing and expert opinions.

Singapore Management University Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan noted that the guidelines, if properly executed, can provide clarity, consistency and fairness in sentencing, while also reducing the often contentious debates online and “trial by social media”.

“The sentencing guidelines must ultimately translate to more trust and confidence in the criminal justice system,” said Prof Tan, urging for the guidelines to be written in language accessible to the layman.

Noting that judges will still need to explain the reasoning behind their sentences, he said: “The public need to be aware that the guidelines won’t operate like a sentencing calculator for the judges since they are not legally bound to follow them and the sentences will ultimately depend on the facts of each case.”

The panel may consult relevant stakeholders in the course of preparing the guidelines, said MinLaw.

It added that during the panel’s first meeting, it agreed to study areas where the guidelines could potentially be useful, including guidelines on general sentencing principles.

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