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I am also against the death penalty. But I am for consistency. It does not sound like a clear-cut case of injustice to me, and I am quite sensitive to injustice

I am also against the death penalty. But I am for consistency. It does not sound like a clear-cut case of injustice to me, and I am quite sensitive to injustice. Any compassion the state shows is a lie to cover for discretionary enforcement, which is a pernicious type of corruption. It truly sounds like a tragic case. If Mr. Dharmalingam was unable to understand the risks he was taking, then clearly he needed more guardianship, maybe from his family, or if that wasn't available, from the state. But state-sponsored guardianship of the intellectually disabled has it's own evil air, does it not? (Not knowing the details, if he was sent from Malaysia, then I hope the Malaysian authorities find and punish the ones who used him so cruelly.)

AussieWog93 5y ago
>(Not knowing the details, if he was sent from India, then I hope the Indian authorities find and punish the ones who used him so cruelly.) He was Malaysian. The cops probably know who sent him and let the guys go in exchange for a shiny watch.
skissane 5y ago
> Any compassion the state shows is a lie to cover for discretionary enforcement, which is a pernicious type of corruption You actually think there is no discretionary enforcement of the law in Singapore? Like every other jurisdiction on earth, Singapore has prosecutorial discretion. [0] A handful of jurisdictions, such as Germany, traditionally reject prosecutorial jurisdiction in theory, but that theory belies the fact that even in Germany it has always been inescapable in practice–no prosecutor on this earth has the resources to prosecute every known crime in their jurisdiction, they always have to pick and choose which cases to prosecute and how much effort and resources to put into each prosecution, and there is always going to be an element of subjective judgement in that decision, which will inevitably be coloured by the prosecutors' beliefs/culture/politics/attitudes/biases. And, is prosecutorial discretion in Singapore applied in a purely impartial and non-discriminatory way? Considering Singapore's lengthy and ongoing history of politically motivated prosecutions (see for example [1]), it is rather obvious that it isn't. Most jurisdictions accept that factors like intellectual disability need to be taken into account as mitigating circumstances, frequently leading to more lenient punishment, and sentencing which focuses more on protection and rehabilitation than less on retribution and deterrence, compared to an offender with normal (or above-normal) intellectual capacity. The idea that intellectually disabled people ought to be treated with particular leniency is one supported by the United Nations, and even by the US Supreme Court (which held, in the 2002 case of Atkins v. Virginia, that executing the intellectually disabled is unconstitutional)–so extending them that leniency is hardly a "lie to cover for discretionary enforcement", nor a "pernicious type of corruption" [0] https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/prosecutorial-discretion-singapore/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/prosecutorial-... [1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/singapore-first-convictions-under-contempt-of-court-law-confirms-fears-over-muzzling-critics-2/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/singapore-fir...

AussieWog93 5y ago

>(Not knowing the details, if he was sent from India, then I hope the Indian authorities find and punish the ones who used him so cruelly.) He was Malaysian. The cops probably know who sent him and let the guys go in exchange for a shiny watch.

skissane 5y ago

> Any compassion the state shows is a lie to cover for discretionary enforcement, which is a pernicious type of corruption You actually think there is no discretionary enforcement of the law in Singapore? Like every other jurisdiction on earth, Singapore has prosecutorial discretion. [0] A handful of jurisdictions, such as Germany, traditionally reject prosecutorial jurisdiction in theory, but that theory belies the fact that even in Germany it has always been inescapable in practice–no prosecutor on this earth has the resources to prosecute every known crime in their jurisdiction, they always have to pick and choose which cases to prosecute and how much effort and resources to put into each prosecution, and there is always going to be an element of subjective judgement in that decision, which will inevitably be coloured by the prosecutors' beliefs/culture/politics/attitudes/biases. And, is prosecutorial discretion in Singapore applied in a purely impartial and non-discriminatory way? Considering Singapore's lengthy and ongoing history of politically motivated prosecutions (see for example [1]), it is rather obvious that it isn't. Most jurisdictions accept that factors like intellectual disability need to be taken into account as mitigating circumstances, frequently leading to more lenient punishment, and sentencing which focuses more on protection and rehabilitation than less on retribution and deterrence, compared to an offender with normal (or above-normal) intellectual capacity. The idea that intellectually disabled people ought to be treated with particular leniency is one supported by the United Nations, and even by the US Supreme Court (which held, in the 2002 case of Atkins v. Virginia, that executing the intellectually disabled is unconstitutional)–so extending them that leniency is hardly a "lie to cover for discretionary enforcement", nor a "pernicious type of corruption" [0] https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/prosecutorial-discretion-singapore/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/prosecutorial-... [1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/singapore-first-convictions-under-contempt-of-court-law-confirms-fears-over-muzzling-critics-2/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/singapore-fir...