Opinion | Singapore-style caning effective as crime deterrent, says NPC delegate
Chen Weicai, head of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau’s political affairs department, said on Tuesday during an NPC session that “strict punishment” was needed to solve rising crime in the city.
A Singapore-style system of corporal punishment should be introduced on the mainland as a deterrent to crime, a Guangzhou delegate to the National People’s Congress has proposed.
Pointing to Singapore’s low crime rate, Chen said the city-state's “caning” practise was a more effective long-term deterrent to violent crime than the death penalty, which he said was only just “one aspect” of punishment.
This long-term shock and awe will ensure one does not dare break the law again
He suggested caning as a punishment on an “instalment” system, in which “if you’re sentenced to be caned six times but you faint after accepting two, no problem, you can go home and accept the other four in the next six months”.
“This long-term shock and awe will ensure one does not dare break the law again,” Chen said.
Chen joked that Singaporean girls used to find ideal husbands based on whether they had scars on their buttocks. Those who had been caned, they knew were criminals, but were usually a “good catch” as they did not dare to break any rules.
More than 30 countries worldwide have lawful use of judicial corporal punishment, many of which are either former British colonies or under sharia law.