Significant improvement in recidivism rate among Malay offenders
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Recidivism rates for the entire local inmate population within two years of release are at their lowest in 30 years.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - There has been a significant improvement in the recidivism rate among Malay offenders in Singapore, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim on Sunday.
Twenty-six per cent of Malay offenders released from Singapore Prison Service custody in 2019 were detained, sentenced to jail, or given a day reporting order within two years of their release.
Speaking at an appreciation lunch for the Dadah Itu Haram (DIH) anti-drug campaign at Concorde Hotel, Assoc Prof Faishal said that the 2015 release cohort's recidivism rate was 33.5 per cent.
Recidivism rates for the entire local inmate population within two years of release are at their lowest in 30 years.
Assoc Prof Faishal also noted the fall in the number of Malay drug abusers arrested - from 1,618 in 2017 to 1,282 in 2021.
He said: "We (have) put in significant efforts to support our inmates, former offenders, and their families. As a result, we have made significant progress in combating drugs, and in preventing offending and reoffending.
"These achievements were possible only because of the strong support from the community, and leading these efforts is the Malay/Muslim organisation rehabilitation network that we have developed and will continue to strengthen."
The Central Narcotics Bureau has been running the Dadah Itu Haram campaign - Drugs are Forbidden - since April 2017 to tackle the issue of an over-representation of Malays among drug abusers, and Assoc Prof Faishal said it has made significant progress in the past five years.
He cited a recent survey that showed high awareness of the campaign and said a notable success has been getting all 71 mosques to support it.
But Assoc Prof Faishal warned against complacency, citing global developments such as the increased push by other countries to adopt more liberal drug policies that have made Singapore's approach more challenging.
He said the profile of new drug abusers continues to be of concern, with 60 per cent of those arrested below the age of 30 and 39 per cent of them being Malays.
Assoc Prof Faishal added: "We need more organisations and individuals to come forward to lend their support, resources, and voices to amplify the DIH message.
"However, support need not be in the form of an event. We can all do our part to amplify the DIH message by creating more DIH advocates."
