Ivan Demjanjuk were both subject to mandatory death sentence after being convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against the Jewish people. Demjanjuk's sentence was overturned on appeal on the basis of reasonable doubt after new evidence emerged.
*
Yong Vui Kong
Yong Vui Kong () (born 23 January 1988) is a Malaysian who was sentenced to death in Singapore for trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin in 2007. His sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and caning as a result of Singapore's amendmen ...
, a drug trafficker from
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, was sentenced to the mandatory penalty of death in 2008 for trafficking more than 47 grams of heroin into Singapore. After the changes to the
death penalty laws in Singapore, which removed the mandatory death sentence for certified drug couriers convicted of drug trafficking, Yong was certified to be a drug courier and thus he, together with some of the other convicted drug traffickers on
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
, became eligible to reduce his sentence. Following an appeal, Yong's death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane.
*
Kho Jabing
Kho Jabing (4 January 1984 – 20 May 2016), later in life Muhammad Kho Abdullah, was a Malaysian of mixed Chinese and Iban descent from Sarawak, Malaysia, who partnered with a friend to rob and murder a Chinese construction worker named Cao Ru ...
and
Galing Anak Kujat were two
Malaysians
Malaysians are nationals and citizens who are identified with the country of Malaysia. Although citizens make up the majority of Malaysians, non-citizen residents and overseas Malaysians may also claim a Malaysian identity.
The country is h ...
and foreign workers working in Singapore on work permits. They were both condemned to hang in 2010 by the
High Court of Singapore
The High Court of Singapore is the lower division of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the upper division being the Court of Appeal. It consists of the chief justice and the judges of the High Court. Judicial Commissioners are often appointed ...
for the 2008 robbery and murder of 40-year-old Cao Ruyin (murder warrants a mandatory death sentence in Singapore). Following an appeal in 2011, Galing's conviction was reduced to robbery with hurt and his sentence was lowered to 18 and a half years in prison with 19 strokes of the cane. After the Singapore government removed the mandatory death penalty in January 2013 for crimes of murder with no intention to kill, Kho Jabing's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane following a re-trial in the High Court in August 2013. However, the prosecution appealed against the life sentence, and thus in 2015, the five-judge Court of Appeal, by a decision of 3 to 2, sentenced Kho to death. Eventually, Kho Jabing was executed on the afternoon of May 20, 2016, by
long drop hanging in
Changi Prison
Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.
History First prison
Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...
.
*
Singaporeans
Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Indi ...
Adrian Lim
The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body of a ten-year-old boy was fo ...
,
Tan Mui Choo
The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing Public housing in Singapore, flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body ...
, and
Hoe Kah Hong
The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing Public housing in Singapore, flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body ...
who were hanged in 1988 for killing two children in the 1981
Toa Payoh ritual murders
The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body of a ten-year-old boy was ...
case in Singapore.
*
Mohammed Ali bin Johari
Nurasyura binte Mohamed Fauzi was a two-year-old Malay girl from Singapore who was raped and murdered. Nurasyura, better known as Nonoi, had gone missing on 1 March 2006, and a highly publicized search ensued; three days later her stepfather, ...
, who was hanged in 2008 for the child rape and murder of his stepdaughter in Singapore.
*
Took Leng How
Huang Na () (26 September 199610 October 2004) was an eight-year-old Chinese national residing in Pasir Panjang, Singapore, who disappeared on 10 October 2004. Her mother, the police and the community conducted a three-week-long nationwide s ...
, a Malaysian and vegetable packer who was hanged in 2006 for murdering 8-year-old Huang Na.
*
Chijioke Stephen Obioha, a Nigerian who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking and was hanged in 2016.
*
Flor Contemplacion
Flor Ramos Contemplacion (January 7, 1953 – March 17, 1995) was a Filipina domestic worker executed in Singapore for murder. Her execution severely strained relations between Singapore and the Philippines, and caused many Filipinos to vent ...
, a Filipino domestic worker executed in March 1995 for murdering another Filipino domestic worker and a four-year-old boy.
*
John Martin Scripps
John Martin (born John Martin Scripps, 9 December 1959 – 19 April 1996) was an English spree killer who murdered three tourists—Gerard Lowe in Singapore, and Sheila and Darin Damude in Thailand—with another three unconfirmed victims. He p ...
, a British spree killer hanged in April 1996 for murdering three tourists. He was the first Briton to receive a mandatory death sentence in Singapore and also the first to be executed in Singapore since the country gained independence in 1965.
*
Sek Kim Wah, a Singaporean NS army conscript who was hanged on December 9, 1988, for the 1983
Andrew Road triple murders
The Andrew Road triple murders was a case of robbery turned triple murder in a bungalow at Andrew Road, Singapore, in 1983. The robbery was committed by two young men armed with a rifle and knife. During the robbery, one of the robbers murdered ...
and used a rifle to commit robbery at the same time. He was also responsible for a double murder near Seletar Road.
*
Iskandar bin Rahmat
The Kovan double murders was a double murder case that occurred on 10 July 2013 at 14J Hillside Drive, Singapore. The murders were committed in the home of one of the victims, 67-year-old Tan Boon Sin. The other is his 42-year-old son, Tan C ...
, a former police officer from the
Singapore Police Force
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; human, wea ...
, was convicted of two counts of murder with intention to kill and was thus subjected to the mandatory death penalty. He was responsible for killing a father and son during a robbery in Singapore, for which the case made national headlines as the
Kovan double murders
The Kovan double murders was a double murder case that occurred on 10 July 2013 at 14J Hillside Drive, Singapore. The murders were committed in the home of one of the victims, 67-year-old Tan Boon Sin. The other is his 42-year-old son, Tan C ...
.
* Ong Hwee Kuan, Ong Chin Hock and Yeo Ching Boon, three youths and friends all of the same age, were given the mandatory death sentence for the robbery, kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old policeman
Lee Kim Lai
Lee Kim Lai (1960 – 25 April 1978; 李金来 Lǐ Jīnlái) was a police officer who was murdered on 25 April 1978 for his service revolver by three men. A serving Police National Serviceman, he was performing sentry duty at the Pol ...
on April 25, 1978. They were all executed on the same day in February 1984.
*
Anthony Ler Wee Teang, a 34-year-old Singaporean who, in May 2001, manipulated a 15-year-old male teenager to murder his wife Annie Leong Wai Mun. He received the mandatory death penalty after being found guilty of abetting the murder, and was hanged in December 2002. The youth, who was not publicly identified due to his age, was found guilty of murder, but was spared the mandatory death penalty and was indefinitely detained for 17 years at
the President's Pleasure
At His Majesty's pleasure (sometimes abbreviated to King's pleasure or, when the reigning monarch is female, at Her Majesty's pleasure or Queen's pleasure) is a legal term of art referring to the indeterminate or undetermined length of service of c ...
. The boy, then aged 32, was released in 2018 after the
President of Singapore
The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the Reserves of the Government of Singapore, reserves and the integrity of the Singapore Civil Service, public serv ...
granted him clemency and commuted his sentence.
*
Ahmad Najib bin Aris
Ahmad Najib bin Aris (1976 – 23 September 2016) was a Malaysian convicted murderer who in 2003 raped and killed Canny Ong, a US-based Malaysian information technology (IT) analyst. The crime made headlines across Malaysia. He was sentenced to d ...
, a Malaysian who was sentenced to death in 2005 for abducting, murdering and raping 32-year-old Canny Ong in 2003, for which the case made shocking headlines in Malaysia. Additionally, Ahmad Najib received another sentence of 20 years' jail with 10 strokes of the cane for rape. The higher courts of Malaysia upheld and eventually finalized Ahmad Najib's death sentence, resulting in his execution on September 23, 2016, 13 years after Ong's murder.
*
Mathavakannan Kalimuthu
Mathavakannan Kalimuthu (Tamil language: மாதவக்கண்ணன் காளிமுத்து; born 10 May 1978) is an Indian Singaporean who, together with his two friends, murdered a gangster named Saravanan Michael Ramalingam ...
, an
Indian Singaporean who was sentenced to death on November 27, 1996, for murdering a gangster on May 26, 1996. Mathavakannan was subsequently granted
clemency
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
from then
President of Singapore
The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the Reserves of the Government of Singapore, reserves and the integrity of the Singapore Civil Service, public serv ...
Ong Teng Cheong
Ong Teng Cheong ( zh, c=王鼎昌, p=Wáng Dǐngchāng; 22 January 1936 – 8 February 2002) was a Singaporean politician who served as the fifth president of Singapore between 1993 and 1999. He was also the first elected president in Singapor ...
, who commuted his mandatory death sentence to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
. His two accomplices
Asogan Ramesh Ramachandren
Mathavakannan Kalimuthu (Tamil language: மாதவக்கண்ணன் காளிமுத்து; born 10 May 1978) is an Indian Singaporean who, together with his two friends, murdered a gangster named Saravanan Michael Ramalingam ...
and
Selvar Kumar Silvaras were hanged in May 1998 after failing to receive clemency.
*
Wang Zhijian
The Yishun triple murders case was a series of three violent murders of three women in a rented flat in Yishun, Singapore in 2008. The suspect, Wang Zhijian, was the boyfriend of one of the two adult women living in the flat, and Wang, togeth ...
, a Chinese national who murdered his girlfriend and both her daughter and flatmate in their rented flat in
Yishun, Singapore in 2008. He was sentenced to death in 2012 for murder, and lost his appeal in 2014; Wang was presumably executed after 2014.
*
Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, a Malaysian who was convicted of drug trafficking and executed despite (unproven) allegations that he was mentally disabled
*
Hannah Ocuish
Hannah Ocuish (sometimes "Occuish"; March 1774 – December 20, 1786) was a 12-year old Pequots, Pequot Native American girl with an intellectual disability who was hanged on December 20, 1786, in New London, Connecticut, New London, Connecticu ...
– a 12-year-old American girl sentenced to death for
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
despite age and intellectual disability
*
Darrell Brooks
On November 21, 2021, Darrell E. Brooks Jr. drove a sport utility vehicle (SUV) through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, killing six people and injuring sixty-two others.
Brooks pleaded not guilty to six count ...
was sentenced to mandatory life in prison. He was arrested after driving a vehicle through a parade in
Waukesha Wisconsin, killing six and injuring numerous others. He immediately fled the scene before being arrested in a nearby neighborhood. Brooks removed his legal counsel before trial proceedings and exercised his sixth-amendment rights to self-representation. During proceedings, he would be combative with the judge, witnesses, and the prosecution, resulting in numerous warnings and being removed from the courtroom several times to stop his outbursts and arguments. He also argued
Sovereign Citizen
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'.
The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
rights multiple times during the trial. He was found guilty on all seventy-six charges as decided by the jury. The six deaths were all charged as First-Degree Intentional Homicide.
*
Teo Ghim Heng
The Woodlands double murders were the murders of pregnant housewife Choong Pei Shan (钟佩珊 Zhōng Peìshān) and her daughter Teo Zi Ning (张梓宁 Zhāng Zǐníng) by her husband Teo Ghim Heng (张锦兴 Zhāng Jĭnxīng) on 20 January 2017. ...
- a 44-year-old Singaporean and former property agent who murdered his pregnant wife and daughter in 2017. He received two mandatory death sentences for two charges of premeditated murder (or intentional murder), the most serious degree of murder which was solely punishable by death under Singapore law.
See also
*
Fact bargaining Fact bargaining is a type of plea bargaining that occurs when prosecutors and defendants bargain over what version of events should be stipulated to by the parties and presented to the court as what happened. Some statutes or sentencing guidelines ...
*
Fair Sentencing Act
The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 () was an Act of Congress that was signed into federal law by United States President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010 that reduces the disparity between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine needed to tri ...
* ''
U.S. v. Booker''
*
Zero tolerance
A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...
, a similar political concept
Footnotes
* Chart of current U.S. federal mandatory minimum drug sentences.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...
.
*
Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative page on Hamedah Hasan* Mandatory sentencing for adult property offenders: The Northern Territory Experience (2003)
References
Boatwright v. State – Supreme Court of FloridaPaey v. State – Supreme Court of FloridaState of Pennsylvania v. ShifflerTronsoco v. State of Florida
Tango v. State Parole Board of New Jerseybroken link)
State of Florida v. Christian
External links
Mandatory Death Penalty: Death Penalty Worldwide{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415024815/http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/mandatory-death-penalty.cfm , date=April 15, 2016 Academic research database on the laws, practice, and statistics of capital punishment for every death penalty country in the world.
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110607092617/http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=822 Trends in State Parole, 1990–2000 NCJ 184735.
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of cri ...
. October 3, 2001. (BJS). By Allen J. Beck, PhD, Timothy A. Hughes, Doris J. James Wilson. "The report compares discretionary and mandatory releases to parole with the type of discharge from parole supervision."
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing , Drug War Facts Common Sense for Drug Policy. MM info with sources.
Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing StatutesCongressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a c ...
Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: The 18 U.S.C. 924(c) Tack-On in Cases Involving Drugs or ViolenceCongressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a c ...
Sentencing (law)
History of drug control