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Singapore has announced that it will retain its mandatory death sentences for serious offenses because they have proved effective in deterring crime. After a yearlong review, which kept executions on hold for more than a year, the authorities decided to allow courts the discretion to issue life sentences instead of death penalty in some cases involving minor drug dealers, who provide substantial assistance to the Central Narcotics Bureau. Singapore has been criticized by anti-death-penalty groups for having the highest per capita execution rate in the world. According to Los Angeles Times, in 2004, officials reported that 138 people were executed over the previous five years. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "The death penalty has been an important part of our criminal justice system for a very long time". "Singaporeans understand that the death penalty has been an effective deterrent and an appropriate punishment for very serious offenses, and largely support it. As part of our penal framework, it has contributed to keeping crime and the drug situation under control," he added. Law Minister K. Shanmugam said that the exemption of some minor drug offenses from mandatory death sentences "will ensure that our sentencing framework properly balances the various objectives: justice to the victim, justice to society, justice to the accused, and mercy in appropriate cases".

Singapore retains harsh death penalty law after year-long review