Criminal Law FAQs

The Police or an enforcement agency – e.g. Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) – can arrest you.

If the Police have a reasonable suspicion that you’ve carried out an arrestable offence and you need to be detained for investigations or produced in Court and charged for committing an offence, the Police can arrest you without the Court’s permission (also called a Warrant of Arrest).

Some examples of arrestable offences include:

• Assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty
• Theft
• Cheating
• Criminal breach of trust
• Criminal intimidation
• Criminal trespass
• Dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property
• Extortion
• Robbery
• Rape
• Unlawful assembly
• Rioting
• Voluntarily causing grievous hurt
• Sexual assault by penetration, without consent (including oral or anal sex)
• Commercial sex with minor under 18 years of age
• Trafficking, possession or consumption of drugs
• Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act offences

You can see the full list of arrestable offences here in the First Schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code.

If the Police have a reasonable suspicion that you’ve carried out a non-arrestable offence, they must get a Warrant of Arrest from the Court before they can arrest you.

The Police can use reasonable force against you to make the arrest. They can also search you after the arrest is made. If a woman is arrested, only a female officer can conduct the search.

During an arrest, you can ask the arresting officer for his official identification and the reason for your arrest.

The Police can detain you in custody for a maximum of 48 hours from the time of your arrest.

After 48 hours has passed, you must be released from the Police’s custody given you promise to a present yourself when your attendance is needed (e.g. attending at a Police station to help with investigations or to attend Court to answer to official criminal charges).

However, if the Police need to detain you beyond the 48 hours, they can do so after getting the Court’s permission and explaining why your detention must be extended.

Typically, you won’t be given the chance to talk to a Singapore lawyer before the interview and your Singapore lawyer cannot accompany you during the interview.

You can contact a Singapore lawyer within a reasonable time given for the Police to carry out their investigations. The duration of this period of time will depend on the facts of each case and it are increased if the Police can show that allowing you to contact or consult your Singapore lawyer will hinder their investigations or the administration of justice.

During the investigations process, you are interviewed by the Police and to give a signed statement. If the Police decide to officially take action against you and charge you in Court, you’ll get the chance to give your defence or explanation to the Charge in writing (in a Cautioned Statement).

If you’re involved in Police investigations or criminal proceedings in Court, you’ll attend at a Police station to assist with investigations or attend Court to face official criminal charges later.

Bail is given in these situations: –

• Police Bail: this is given if you’re suspected of committing a criminal offence and you’re currently assisting in investigations conducted by the Police or an investigation or enforcement agency such as the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
• Court bail: this is given to if you’re charged with a criminal offence in Court and you’re currently involved in the criminal proceedings in Court.

To make sure that you attend at a Police station or Court when needed, a sum of money must be given as a security to get your release from the custody of the Police or the Court. This money is known as bail.

The bailor or surety is the person who promises to pay the sum of money if you fail to appear before the Police or Court. More than one bailor is needed if the bail needed is of a large amount.

In most cases, an accused person in criminal proceedings cannot be his own bailor unless the Court otherwise allows.

However, there are some cases where the Police will allow a suspect to pay for his own security by can making personal bond or undertaking by himself by instead without the need for a separate

After bail is given to you, you can only leave Singapore with the permission of the Police or the Court. Both the bailor and you must be present if an application is made to the Court for permission to travel overseas. The Court will usually increase the bail amount as a condition of allowing you to travel overseas.

If you fail to present yourself when needed, a Warrant of Arrest is given against you. If Court bail is given, the bailor must attend a hearing to give reasons to the Court why the full amount of the bail mustn’t be forfeited.

A bailor must usually fulfil these criteria:

• He must be at least 21 years old
• He mustn’t be an undischarged bankrupt
• He mustn’t have an ongoing or pending criminal case in Court
• He must be a Singapore Citizen or a Singapore Permanent Resident
• He must accept the responsibilities of a bailor until the case is concluded
• He must pledge security (either in cash or in personal properties) for the amount of bail

The Court will make the final decision as to whether or not you are suitable to be a bailor.

The Court or enforcement agency in charge of offering you bail can impose additional conditions if it feels that these are needed to secure and compel your attendance.

Examples of additional bail conditions are:

• Your passport must be surrendered
• You must abide by a curfew or time-restriction
• You must report to the Investigating Officer (IO) on the specified date and times
• The bail amount must be given by more than one bailor
• The bail amount must include a specified amount of cash (as opposed to assets or properties)
• The bailor must be a Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident

Your bailor’s main duty is to make sure that you attend Court (or before the Police) whenever you’re needed until the conclusion of the case (or investigations).

Your bailor must forfeit the full amount of bail if you fail to attend before the Court or Police when needed or if he fails to comply with any of the conditions of bail.

Security for bail is given or promised in these ways:

• Cash
• Monies in the bailor’s bank savings account (the bank will freeze the bank account or funds and the bailor won’t be able to use the account or funds during the remaining period of bail)
• Cashier’s Order
• NETS payment through the bailor’s ATM card and bank account and subject to his daily maximum withdrawal limit
• Pledging the bailor’s personal properties for a bail amount of up to $15,000
• Fixed Deposit or Time Deposit from the bailor’s bank account (given the funds are not already being used as a form of security for another purpose)

The monies and properties pledged by the bailor must belong to you.

Your bailor can only use his sole bank account i.e. a joint account can only be used as security if both account holders are bailors.

This is what you need to know about your legal rights are during the investigation process:

1. A Police officer will interview and record a statement in English from you.
2. You can talk in the language or dialect you’re most comfortable with.
3. An interpreter will be arranged if you don’t understand the interviewer.
4. You must check that the statement is completely accurate before you sign it.
5. You can amend the statement if you need.
6. You won’t be given a copy of the statement.
7. You won’t be given the opportunity to talk to your Singapore lawyer before the interview and your Singapore lawyer won’t be allowed to accompany you during the interview.
8. You must tell the truth during the interview. Otherwise, you can be prosecuted for giving false information or lying.
9. If you’re accused of having carried out an offence, you must give your full explanation early, otherwise, it can be viewed as being less believable if you only mention it much later.
10. But remember, regardless of what the interviewer can tell you, you must not admit that you’ve carried out the offence. This is your legal right.

Before the authorities take official action against you for a criminal offence by charging you in Court, there must be a credible reason and basis for doing so.

Investigations are conducted by the Police or enforcement agencies to get information and evidence for the purpose of deciding if there’s enough evidence or reason to officially take action against you for a criminal offence by charging you in Court.

Investigations into potential criminal offences are conducted by the Police or enforcement agencies.

Examples of enforcement agencies include the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

Government Ministries – such as Ministry of Manpower (MOM) – and some Statutory Boards – such as the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), Central Provident Fund Board (CPF) and Energy Market Authority (EMA) – are also authorised to conduct investigations into potential regulatory offences.

You’re detained in custody for up to a maximum of 48 hours from the time of your arrest.

After 48 hours has passed from the time of your arrest, you must be released from the Police’s custody given you promise to a present yourself whenever your attendance is next needed (e.g. attending at the Police station to assist with investigations or to attend Court to answer for official criminal charges).

However, if the Police need to detain you beyond the first 48 hours, they can do so after getting the Court’s permission and explaining why your detention must be extended.

An Investigating Officer (IO) conducting the investigations will typically do these:

• Interview and ask you questions about what you know about certain facts and circumstances relating to the offence being investigated.
• Record a written and signed statement (also known as a Long Statement, Witness Statement or Investigation Statement) from you which contains the information you’ve given during the interview.
• Search a place to look for property, documents, physical objects and other material which can be relied on as evidence.
• Take possession of physical evidence which can be used as exhibits in the case

The type of statement that you’re asked to give during investigations would depend on the nature of your involvement with the case and how you’re assisting the investigators.

There are typically two types of statements which you can be asked to give during investigations, namely a Witness Statement and Investigation Statement (also sometimes called a Long Statement) and a Cautioned Statement.

If you’re a witness to a criminal offence, you can be asked about your personal knowledge of how it can have occurred.

If you’re a suspect accused of having carried out a criminal offence, you’re likely to be asked to give your explanation to rebut or defend the allegation made against you.

A Witness Statement and Investigation Statement contains your description of the facts and circumstances regarding the offence investigated:

• You’ll be interviewed by a Police officer and a statement will be recorded after the interview.
• You must tell the truth in this statement and you can be prosecuted for lying or providing false information to the investigators.
• You must read and, if you need, amend your statement before signing it to ensure that it contains an accurate account of what you had said during your interview to the investigators
• You have a right to refuse to make any statement or comment which would expose you to a criminal charge. This also means that you have a right not to admit that you’ve carried out the offence alleged.
• However, if you’re accused of having carried out a criminal offence, you must give your full explanation early because it can be viewed as being less believable if you only mention it much later.

The contents of your Witness Statement can be used against you in Court if it was recorded from you voluntarily.

The statement is considered to have voluntarily recorded from by you if you had given the contents and signed the statement on your own free will and without any inducement, threat or promise from the person interviewing you.

If you’re being officially charged for a criminal offence, you’ll be given with a copy of the charge which would say the type of offence and describe the important particulars of the offence, such as the date, time, location, offending criminal act or conduct in question, the value of the property involved and identity of the victim.

The charge is given together with a Cautioned Statement which sets out a warning and notices for you to give your defence or explanation in response to the charge:

• The charge (including the criminal act or conduct alleged and the prescribed punishment) must be explained to you in the language that you understand and by an interpreter if you need.
• You’ll be reminded to mention the facts which you plan to use in your defence at the trial and record this in the Cautioned Statement.
• The Court can not believe your defence if you fail to mention your defence in the Cautioned Statement and instead only mention it later at a trial,
• You must read and amend this statement before signing it to ensure that it contains an accurate account of what you’ve to say in response to the charge.

You have the right to remain silent when you’re being officially charged and asked to sign the Cautioned Statement.

This means that you must not mention the facts which you plan to use in your defence.

However, the Court can not believe your defence if you fail to mention your defence in the Cautioned Statement and instead only mention it later at a trial, for example, because the Court can feel that your defence has only been recently created and it isn’t true.

You’re allowed to have a copy of your Cautioned Statement from the Police.

You can also request for a copy of the First Information Report (FIR), that is the first report received by the Police about an offence. An FIR can be a Police Report lodged by a complainant or the transcript of the telephone call made by the complainant through the Police “999” Telephone Hotline.

However, you’re not allowed to have a copy of your Witness Statement and Investigation Statement or copies of such statements made by other witnesses in the investigations.

When you’ve been officially charged for committing a criminal offence, you’ll need to attend Court to answer to or defend the charge.

You’ll be charged when the investigations conducted by the Police or enforcement agencies have concluded and they have decided that there’s enough evidence or reason to officially take action against you for a criminal offence.

You’ll be told in advance of the date of your first appearance and the nature of the charge when the Police or enforcement agency issue you with the charge and record a Cautioned Statement from you.

When you’re first needed to attend in Court to answer to the charge, the charge (and the particulars of the criminal offence that was allegedly carried out by you) will be read and explained to you in Court in the language which you understand and by an interpreter if you need.

• The charge will contain the key details of the alleged offence g. date, time, location, offending criminal act or conduct in question, the value of the property involved and identity of the victim.
• If you’re accused of committing and are charged for more than one offence, each offence will be stated in a separate charge.
• If any other person is accused of committing the offence together with you, he’ll be charged together with you for the same offence and a separate charge will be preferred against you.

You’ll need to tell the Court of the course of action you want to you to take, namely either:

• Plead guilty (i.e. you want to admit to the charge and accept that you’ll be punished for the offence)
• Claim trial (i.e. you want to deny that you carried out the offence as alleged and you want to show your innocence or give your defence at a trial in Court)

It isn’t compulsory for you to plead guilty to the charge at your first appearance in Court as you’re allowed to ask for an adjournment of the case to choose your next course of action.

If you need more time to prepare your case or if you need to consult a Singapore lawyer before you choose your next course of action, you can ask for the Court to adjourn the case to another later date.

The Court will take into account the reasons for your request for an adjournment and then decide if these reasons are of merit and deserving of your request being given.

If the case is adjourned, you’ll need to give Court bail to make sure you attend the next hearing in Court or whenever needed.

Plea bargaining or plea negotiation takes place when you make a written appeal (also called Representations) to the Prosecution (i.e. the Public Prosecutor and Attorney-General’s Chambers or the Police or other enforcement agencies prosecuting the charge against you Court) to ask them to take a more lenient course of action against you or to take a less serious view of your case.

Although you can make this appeal on your own, you can consult a Singapore lawyer to get a clearer understanding of the facts and circumstances which will be important for the Prosecution’s attention of your appeal.

The Prosecution will take into account the reasons for your appeal and then decide if these reasons are of merit and deserving of your request being given.

You can benefit from engaging a Singapore lawyer to prepare the appeal on your behalf as the facts and circumstances that are important for the Prosecution’s attention can include issues of law and government policy which you won’t be fully prepared to handle on your own.

The Prosecution has the authority to choose the type of prosecutorial action taken against you e.g.:

• Whether or not to officially charge you with committing a criminal offence.
• What type of criminal offence and charge to use against you.
• How many charges to prefer against you.

After the Prosecution has made its final decision on the nature and course of the prosecutorial action that will be taken against, you’ll eventually need to choose if you want to plead guilty or claim trial to the charge.

If the plea bargaining and negotiation process need more time to take place, the Court can assign the case to be dealt with in an administrative hearing known as a Pre-Trial Conference (PTC).

A PTC is a type of Court hearing that is conducted in a closed-door setting by a Judge and attended by your Singapore lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and an officer representing the Prosecution (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor). You’ll need to attend to the PTC if you’re not represented by a Singapore lawyer.

At the PTC, the Judge will be updated on the progress and developments in the case, including the status of your plea bargaining and negotiation process with the Prosecution and if any new decision is reached by either party on how they want to proceed in the case.

If you or your Singapore lawyer need more time to prepare your case or to comply with the Court’s directions (e.g. if you need more time to prepare your written appeal), a request made be made at the PTC for the Court to adjourn the case to another later date.

When the Prosecution has told the Court of its final decision on the nature and course of the prosecutorial action that will be taken against you, you’ll need to tell the Court of your decision as to whether you eventually want to plead guilty or claim trial to the charge.

If you decide to plead guilty, the Court will arrange a date on which your case will be heard in an open courtroom where you’ll be officially needed to plead guilty to the charge and be sentenced. This type of hearing in an open courtroom setting is also known as Mention.

If you decide to claim trial, the Court will arrange dates on which a trial will take place.

If you decide to plead guilty, you’ll be given the opportunity to tell the Judge of any mitigating factors which you have and the Judge to impose a sentence against you (e.g. to pay a fine or serve a period of imprisonment).

If you decide to claim trial, a separate Court hearing (known as a trial) will take place where the Judge will take into account the evidence presented and arrive at a decision as to whether the Prosecution has succeeded in showing your guilt.

• If the Prosecution succeeds in showing its case against you and that you carried out the offence alleged, the Judge will convict you of the charge and impose a sentence against you.
• If the Prosecution fails in showing its case against you and that you carried out the offence alleged, the Judge will acquit you of the charge.

If you’ve been convicted of the charge, you’ll be given the opportunity to tell the Judge of any mitigating factors which you have.

The Judge will then take into account your mitigation plea before imposing a sentence against you.

After a decision on the conviction and sentence is made by the Judge, either you or the Prosecution can make an appeal to a higher Court (e.g. the High Court) in these situations:

• If you’re sentenced after having pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision, you can make an appeal against the sentence imposed
  • You can make an appeal against sentence if you feel that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law.
  • The Prosecution can make an appeal against the sentence if it feels that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law.
• If you’re convicted and sentenced after having claimed trial and you’re not satisfied with the Judge’s decisions, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the conviction and sentence.
• If you’re acquitted after having claimed trial, the Prosecution can make an appeal to the High Court against the acquittal.

• You need to submit the official application for an appeal within 10 days from the date of conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is filed, a separate Court hearing will take place for the Court to take into account if the reasons in support of the appeal are of merit and deserving of the appeal being given.

When you’re officially charged in Court for a criminal offence, you must tell the Court of the course of action you’ll take:

• Plead guilty (i.e. you’ll admit to the charge and accept that you’ll be punished for the offence)
• Claim trial (i.e. you’ll deny that you carried out the offence as alleged and you’ll show your innocence or give your defence at a trial in Court)

If you claim trial, a separate Court hearing (called a trial) will take place where the Judge will take into account the evidence presented and make a decision as to whether the Prosecution has succeeded in showing your guilt.

During the trial, the Prosecution will present the evidence to convince the Court to decide that they’ve proven beyond reasonable doubt that you’ve carried out the alleged offence. Likewise, you’ll also present your evidence to convince the Court to accept your basis for disputing the alleged offence or to decide that your guilt has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

You can engage a Singapore lawyer to represent you at a trial or you can conduct the trial on your own if you don’t have a Singapore lawyer.

If the Prosecution succeeds in showing its case against you and that you carried out the alleged offence, the Judge will convict you of the charge and impose a sentence against you.

If the Prosecution fails in showing its case against you and that you carried out the alleged offence, the Judge will acquit you of the charge.

After you’ve decided to claim trial, the Court will arrange an administrative hearing called a Pre-Trial Conference (PTC) to manage the progress of the case up to the day of the trial.

A PTC is a Court hearing conducted in a closed-door setting by a Judge and attended by your Singapore lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and an officer representing the Prosecution (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor). You’ll need to attend to the PTC if you’re not represented by a Singapore lawyer.

The following events can take place at the PTC before the criminal trial:

• The PTC can be used to allow the parties to discuss how they plan to manage the presentation of their evidence and make efficient use of the time given for the trial.
• Trial hearing dates will be scheduled once the parties involved in the case are prepared to start the trial.
• The number of trial dates given will depend on the number of issues and evidence involved in the case i.e. more trial dates will be given for a case involving many or complicated issues and a large quantity of evidence.
• You must tell the Court of the evidence that you’ll be presenting and relying on.
• You must confirm the number of witnesses you plan to call and their availability to attend the trial. Interpreters will be given by the Court if any of your witnesses don’t talk English.
• You’ll be responsible for ensuring that your witnesses attend the trial. You can apply to the Court to issue an official notice to force your witnesses to attend the trial if you believe that they cannot attend voluntarily.

During the criminal trial, the Prosecution will present the evidence to convince the Court to conclude that they’ve proven beyond reasonable doubt that you’ve carried out the alleged offence. Likewise, you’ll also present your evidence to convince the Court to accept your basis for disputing the alleged offence or to conclude that your guilt has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The Prosecution will present their evidence first and the Defence (i.e. you or your Singapore lawyer) will present their evidence after the Prosecution has finished presenting all their evidence.

The following procedure is used when the parties (i.e. the Prosecution or Defence) present their evidence:

• The party (e.g. Prosecution) will call their witnesses to testify and give evidence.
• The party or its Singapore lawyer (e.g. Prosecuting Officer) will conduct the examination-in-chief (EIC) of each witness to introduce his own individual evidence.
• After the EIC of each witness is complete, the opposing party’s Singapore lawyer (e.g. Defence Counsel) will conduct the cross-examination of the witness by asking you questions.
• The purpose of the cross-examination is to challenge or contradict the testimony given by the witness, such as by using the contents of documents to contradict what he had said earlier in his testimony.
• After the cross-examination, the party or its Singapore lawyer (e.g. Prosecuting Officer) will conduct the re-examination of the witness by asking you to explain the answers he had given during cross-examination.

After all the Prosecution’s witnesses have testified, the witnesses in support of your defence will give evidence using the same procedure used for the examination of the Prosecution’s witnesses i.e. examination-in-chief followed by cross-examination and then re-examination.

After all the witnesses have completed their testimonies at the trial, the Prosecution and Defence (i.e. you or your Singapore lawyer) will present oral or written closing submissions – you’ll each summarise the evidence presented at the trial and give reasons why the Judge must accept their evidence and decide in favour of them.

The Judge will take into account the evidence and reasons and make a final decision as to whether or not the Prosecution has succeeded in showing your guilt.

• If the Prosecution proves its case against you and that you carried out the alleged offence, the Judge will convict you of the charge and impose a sentence against you.
• If the Prosecution fails to show its case against you and that you carried out the alleged offence, the Judge will acquit you of the charge.

If you’re convicted of the charge, you’ll be given a chance to tell the Judge of any mitigating factors which you have.

The Judge will take into account your mitigation plea and then impose a sentence against you.

After a decision on the conviction and sentence is made by the Judge, either party can make an appeal to a higher Court (e.g. the High Court):

• If you’re sentenced after having pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the sentence imposed
  • You can appeal against sentence if you feel that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law
  • The Prosecution can appeal against sentence if it feels that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law
• If you’re convicted and sentenced after having claimed trial and you’re not satisfied with the Judge’s decisions, you can appeal to the High Court against the conviction and sentence.
• If you’re acquitted after having claimed trial, the Prosecution can appeal to the High Court against the acquittal

• You’ll need to submit the official application for an appeal within 14 days from the date of conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is filed, a separate Court hearing will take place for the Court to take into account if the reasons in support of the appeal are of merit and deserving of the appeal being given.

After you’ve been found guilty and convicted of an offence, the Court will need to take into account what type and amount of sentence to impose against you.

Before the Court decides on and imposes the sentence, you’ll be given the opportunity to tell the Court of any mitigating factors which you have. The Prosecution will also have the opportunity to make arguments regarding their views on what the sentence must be.

Mitigating factors are facts, circumstances and reasons which you feel would support a more lenient or less serious sentence being imposed against you. These factors can include information and facts regarding your own personal circumstances and those regarding the circumstances surrounding how the offence had been carried out or occurred.

Your mitigating factors are presented orally (spoken) or in a written document.

The mitigation plea (or plea in mitigation) means the written or oral presentation to the Court of your mitigation factors.

The mitigation plea is presented by your Singapore lawyer or by yourself if you’re not legally represented.

A mitigation plea prepared by a Singapore lawyer will be in English. However, an interpreter will be provided to translate your mitigation plea for the Court’s understanding if you’re not legally represented and you want to orally present your mitigation plea in another language.

The purpose of a mitigation plea is to convince the Court to impose the least severe or most appropriate punishment (in your view) available for the offence carried out in light of all the circumstances of your case.

This means that the mitigation plea must present these types of information for the Court’s attention:

• Factors regarding your personal circumstances: this includes factors such as your family background, education and employment track record, medical conditions, evidence that sheds light on your character and attitude and information regarding your potential to be rehabilitated and to be reformed from your offending behaviour.
• Factors regarding how you’ve carried out the offence: this includes factors such as your specific role, the value of the property involved, the degree of any injury caused to the victim and other circumstances which allow the Court to better understand the context in which the offence took place (e.g. provocation by the victim).

A mitigation plea mustn’t introduce or use information which can contradict the Statement of Facts (SOF) which you had earlier admitted to or which challenge the facts and conclusions arrived at by the Judge after a trial.

After looking at your mitigation plea and any arguments made by the Prosecution relating to the issue of sentencing, the Judge will impose a sentence against you.

After a decision on the conviction and sentence is made by the Judge, either party can typically make an appeal to the High Court in these situations:

• If you’re sentenced after having pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the sentence imposed:
  • You can make an appeal against sentence if you feel that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law
  • The Prosecution can also make an appeal against sentence if it feels that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law
• You’ll need to submit the official application for an appeal within 10 days from the date of conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is filed, a separate Court hearing will take place for the Court to take into account whether or not the reasons in support of the appeal are of merit and deserving of the appeal being given.

When the Prosecution has told the Court of its final decision on the nature and course of the prosecutorial action that will be taken against you, you’ll need to tell the Court of your decision as to whether you eventually want to plead guilty or claim trial to the charge.

When you plead guilty to a charge, you’re regarded as having acknowledged and accepted that you’ve carried out the offence alleged in the charge and you’ll need to fulfil the requirements of the sentence imposed (e.g. to pay a fine or serve a period of imprisonment).

When you plead guilty to a charge, the Court will need to confirm that you understand the nature and consequences of pleading guilty before it is able to accept your plea of guilt and convict you of the charge.

A separate open-courtroom hearing (sometimes called a Mention) will take place by a Judge and attended by your Singapore lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and a Prosecuting Officer (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor).

When you plead guilty to a charge, the charge and Statement of Facts (SOF) will be read to you in the language which you understand and by an interpreter if you need.

After the charge is read to you, you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to plead guilty to the charge and that you understand the nature and consequences of pleading guilty.

The charge will contain the key details of the alleged offence such as the date, time, location, offending criminal act or conduct in question, the value of the property involved and identity of the victim. The prescribed and maximum punishment will also be stated in the charge.

The SOF contains the material facts regarding the offence and which can describe the nature of your involvement and conduct in committing the offence.

After the SOF is read to you, you’ll be asked to admit to the facts as contained in it:

• You must tell the Court if you deny or disagree with the facts contained in the SOF.
• If you disagree with parts of the SOF which are material and affect your acknowledgement and acceptance that you’ve carried out the offence alleged, the Court won’t accept your plea of guilt.
• If the Court rejects your plea of guilt, you’ll need to take into account if you want to continue to challenge the facts.
• If you want to continue to challenge the facts as contained in the SOF, the Court can need you to claim trial to the charge.
• If you do not want to continue to challenge the facts as contained in the SOF, you must be prepared to concede and accept the facts as contained in the

If you completely agree and accept the facts contained in the SOF, the Court will record your plea of guilt and convict you on the charge.

After you’ve pleaded guilty by completely agreeing to and accepting the facts contained in the Statement of Facts (SOF), the Court will record your plea of guilt and convict you on the charge.

The Prosecuting Officer will then tell the Court of any important previous convictions which you have:

• You’ll need to admit to and confirm that the list of previous convictions as described by the Prosecuting Officer is accurate.
• These previous convictions can be considered by the Court in determining the sentence to impose against you.

After you’ve pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted to the Statement of Facts (SOF) and your previous convictions, you’ll be given the opportunity to tell the Court of any mitigating factors which you have before the Court decides on and imposes the sentence against you for the offence you’ve pleaded guilty to.

Mitigating factors are the facts, circumstances and reasons which can help to support a more lenient or less serious sentence being imposed against you. Mitigating factors can include information and facts regarding your own personal circumstances and those regarding the circumstances surrounding how the offence had been carried out,

Your mitigating factors are presented orally (spoken) or in a written document.

The mitigation plea (or plea in mitigation) means the written or oral presentation to the Court of your mitigation factors.

After you’ve pleaded guilty and the Judge has considered your mitigation plea and any arguments made by the Prosecution regarding their views on what the sentence must be, he’ll decide on a suitable sentence and impose the sentence against you.

After a decision on the conviction and sentence is made by the Judge, either party can typically make an appeal to the High Court in these situations:

• If you’re sentenced after having pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the sentence imposed:
  • You can make an appeal against sentence if you feel that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law
  • The Prosecution can also make an appeal against sentence if it feels that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law
• You’ll need to submit the official application for an appeal within 10 days from the date of conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is filed, a separate Court hearing will take place for the Court to take into account whether or not the reasons in support of the appeal are of merit and deserving of the appeal being given.

After looking at your mitigation plea and any arguments made by the Prosecution relating to the issue of sentencing, the Court will impose a sentence against you.

The Court aims to find a sentence that will fit both the offence and the offender i.e. the sentence must proportionately and appropriately reflect the seriousness of the offence and your level of culpability.

When the Court decides on the sentence to impose against you, it aims to find a sentence that will fit both the offence and the offender i.e. the sentence must proportionately and appropriately reflect the seriousness of the offence and your level of culpability.

In deciding the type and amount of sentence to impose, the Court will typically take into account and balance 4 main sentencing principles:

• Retribution: the thinking behind this principle is that the offender must suffer the penalty for the criminal act which he has carried out. Importantly, the principle of retribution includes the rule that the punishment must appropriately, proportionately and accurately reflect and fit the seriousness of the criminal act carried out and the harm it has caused.
• Deterrence: the thinking behind this principle is that other potential offenders must be deterred and reminded that they mustn’t commit similar offences. This principle includes 2 other categories:
  • General deterrence: the goal of this purpose is to educate members of the general public and deter other potential offenders by making an example of one particular offender to send a strong message that such offences won’t be tolerated and will be punished severely.
  • Specific deterrence: the goal of this purpose is to educate and deter the specific individual offender (e.g. a repeat offender) by sending a strong message that his particularly reprehensible actions (e.g. unrepentant behaviour) won’t be tolerated and they will be punished severely.
• Prevention: the thinking for this principle is that the offender must be physically incapacitated and removed from general public society because the members of the general public need to be protected from his dangerous behaviour and conduct.
• Rehabilitation: the thinking for this principle is that the offender must be given the opportunity to reform himself from his offending behaviour and into a law-abiding person. This principle is given more attention in cases involving young offenders and persons below 21 years of age.

When the Court decides on the sentence to impose against you, it aims to find a sentence that will fit both the offence and the offender i.e. the sentence must proportionately and appropriately reflect the seriousness of the offence and your level of culpability.

Apart from looking at and balancing the 4 main sentencing principles (i.e. Retribution, Deterrence, Prevention and Rehabilitation) when deciding the appropriate sentence, the Court must also take into account if the sentence is consistent with and upholds the public interest:

• This is because of the strong emphasis in Singapore on the importance of maintaining social order in the community by ensuring that every person respects and follows the law.
• The thinking behind this principle is that the process of imposing sentences for criminal offences must eventually help to reduce the occurrence of crime and to protect the members of our community.
• This means that the Court can give an especially heavy sentence for an offence that is becoming increasingly prevalent so that the general public and potential offenders are reminded of the seriousness of such an offence and not to commit similar offences.
• For example, the Court can take into account that public interest must take priority over and outweigh other mitigating factors such as an offender’s young age. In this way, the Court can take the view that a more severe sentence is justified even though there are deserving mitigating factors.