Explainer: The evolution of S’pore’s approach to rehabilitating ex-offenders, expunging some criminal records

• The debate over rehabilitating and giving second chances to ex-offenders has spanned years and is not over yet, legal experts said
• The spotlight has been cast on the topic after an exchange between Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim and Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam
• The debate surrounds the Registration of Criminals Act, which allows ex-offenders convicted of certain minor crimes to not disclose the fact that they have a criminal record
• There is still scope to expand the law, but questions about what crimes should be expunged are not easy to answer, said lawyers
• Beyond this law, other actions to rehabilitate and reform ex-criminals are also crucial and Singapore has made much progress

 

SINGAPORE — An exchange between the Workers’ Party’s Jamus Lim and Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam over reintegrating ex-offenders into society, which later spilled over to social media, has cast a spotlight on whether to expunge the criminal records of those who have done their time and remained crime-free.

Associate Professor Lim, Member of Parliament for Sengkang Group Representation Constituency, had filed a question last week asking the Government to consider expunging the records of ex-offenders who had committed non-violent crimes after an extended period of good behaviour.

He stated later that he wanted to “open up a conversation about crime and rehabilitation”.

Yet the discussion over the ways to give former offenders a second chance has “taken place for decades”, as Mr Shanmugam said in his rejoinder to Assoc Prof Lim.

Mr Shanmugam said: “Permanent labels can affect an offender’s reintegration, and at the same time some offenders can and do pose a risk to society. That is not new either. The question is: What do you do about it?”

Speaking to TODAY, two criminal defence lawyers helped to chart the long debate that has unfolded since a critical amendment to the Registration of Criminals Act (Roca) in 2005 that aimed to give some ex-offenders a chance by expunging their records.

There is also no easy resolution to the balancing act between the reintegration of ex-offenders and society’s interest in safety. Despite decades of debate, this topic is still not a settled one, the lawyers said.

Moreover, besides criminal records, one must also look at other steps outside of Roca to allow ex-offenders to re-enter society, said Mr Chia Hock Lu, a criminal defence lawyer from Kalidass Law Corporation.

“We believe there has been progress over the years… (Roca’s 2005 amendment) was a step in reintegrating qualifying individuals through the concept of treating criminal records as ‘spent’. We believe the introduction of community sentences under the Criminal Procedure Code in 2010 is another step taken in that direction,” said Mr Chia.

What is the Registration of Criminals Act?

Passed by Parliament in 1985, the Act was a formalised version of an ordinance dating back to Singapore’s colonial era to allow the authorities to keep track of people who have committed certain “registrable” crimes.

These involve very serious offences such as murder, kidnapping, genocide, sexual assault, drug trafficking, as well as non-violent ones such as forgery, theft and criminal breach of trust.

It does not include offences not listed in Roca, such as most road traffic offences or littering, for example. That means that a speeding fine or a drink-driving offence that does not result in injury will not give the offender a criminal record.

Essentially, the law allowed government entities to conduct background checks on people to see if they had been found guilty of registrable crimes. Employers may ask job applicants to declare whether they have a criminal record, too, before deciding whether to hire them.

In 2005, Parliament debated and passed an amendment to allow certain registrable offences to be “spent” after a crime-free period of five years, which means that such offenders can choose not to disclose whether they have a criminal record when asked and “should not be dismissed for failing to disclose it”, said Mr Chia.

Not all registrable offences can be expunged in such a way, however, for the sake of public safety and security, said the lawyer. It will be up to the police commissioner’s discretionary powers to determine whether serious crimes, such as violent offences, can be spent.

“The legislative intent would have been to avoid the stigmatisation of ex-offenders guilty of minor offences,” he said.

Reintegration of ex-offenders still a work-in-progress

However, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, head of the criminal department at law firm Quahe Woo & Palmer, explained that some employers may still find ways around this law.

For example, rather than asking if a person has a criminal record, some employers could quiz applicants about whether they had been subject to a police investigation.

“Unfortunately, it depends on the particular industry for these cases. For example, there are different considerations in the finance industry ​where integrity is paramount,” he said.

A financial institution may not be seen by the public to be responsible if they hired a person with a prior record of dishonesty, said Mr Sunil. Yet, the opposing argument is that everyone deserves a second chance, such as people who may have stolen something in their youth, he said.

“When I look at this as a criminal defence lawyer, I tend to have a more forgiving heart. But some in society may not have the same openness to ex-convicts,” said Mr Sunil, who is also president of the Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore.

The debate into which type of crimes are regarded as severe or minor is also a tricky one to resolve, added Mr Chia.

“This is partially because of the inherent difficulty in comparing across different types of offences such as, for example, between theft in dwelling and sexual offences,” he said.

Nevertheless, there is still scope to expand Roca to allow more offenders a better chance to reintegrate with society, both lawyers added.

Mr Sunil said that there could be more consideration to allow criminal records to be spent if such offences were committed in a person’s youth or by those with mental health problems.

“From our work with the community court, we see a whole spectrum of offenders, including those with special needs, and they already face significant impediments to their post-release reintegration, so maybe further carve-outs (of Roca) can be considered,” he said.

Singapore’s rehabilitation journey

Apart from Roca, the lawyers also noted that Singapore has made much progress in promoting the rehabilitation and reform of ex-offenders, which goes beyond the sole act of expunging their criminal records.

The work of Yellow Ribbon Singapore, formerly known as the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises, plays a critical role in removing stigma and giving second chances to former inmates, whether their criminal record has been eliminated or not. 

Yellow Ribbon Singapore also works with Workforce Singapore (WSG) on programmes such as Career Trial, which places ex-offenders on short-term work stints with employers. The WSG offers employment support to employers who hire ex-offenders, helping unemployed ex-offenders prepare to re-enter the workforce.

In his Facebook post, Mr Shanmugam highlighted the steps that Singapore has taken. In 2018, the Government extended community-based sentencing to a wider range of offenders and offences. These types of sentences do not result in a criminal record.

Community-based sentencing, which was introduced in 2010, was a key step in Singapore’s goal to reintegrate ex-offenders into society, said Mr Chia.

“In the right circumstances, an offender can avoid the impact of an imprisonment term or a fine, while benefiting from a community sentence specially targeted at the offender's rehabilitation and reintegration,” he said.

In 2019, the Misuse of Drugs Act was also amended to remove the criminal stigma for drug offenders. The changes raised the maximum period of detention in the Drug Rehabilitation Centre from three years to four to cater for high-risk repeat drug abusers who may require longer periods of rehabilitation.

First-time abusers who have a low risk of further abuse can also be placed in an enhanced direct supervision order that will require them to undergo regular urine or hair testing, and undergo post-release supervision by the authorities. Those under 21 will go for Youth Enhanced Supervision, which mandates the involvement of the youths’ parents.

These are designed to “ensure that drug abusers receive sustained support for successful reintegration into society”, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement then.

Said Mr Sunil of these initiatives: “Rehabilitation of criminals is a lot more nuanced than whether their crimes are severe or not.

“That’s not to say that we should not have further conversations about Roca, but I will say that our prisons and our institutions have spent quite a bit of time and effort to reintegrate and empower ex-offenders.”