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Why is Singapore's crime rate so low? 5 Answers Kor Chin Wee, lives in Singapore - Answered Nov 27, 2015
"Low Crime doesn't mean
No Crime" - This slogan represents a very successful national Television
campaign series called [CrimeWatch]. The series shows regularly on national TV
including the latest scams, landmark cases, serial robberies (and their crime
tactics) to raise awareness and educate the public what to do to not encourage
crime. For example, internet scams are increasingly rampant and what CrimeWatch
does is to expose them. You may find the series interesting here: @Crimewatch
2015 - Toggle
In fact, most crimes nowadays in
Singapore originate from scams that are overseas such as internet scams etc that
involve monies being transacted overseas. e.g. Internet purchases that ask for
multiple payments to "free items stuck at immigration", Nigerian scams.
The low crime rate in Singapore did not come by chance and it is no doubt a
gradual process (of a few factors coming together) to achieve what we have
today. The main reasons I can think of are the following:
1)
Singaporeans/Foreigners here earn enough
to get by:
When everyone has a job and has money to support themselves, petty crimes such
as theft and robberies are not (as) appealing. You may also find it funny that
Singaporeans also like to spend their time complaining about their own citizens
for not giving up seats on the train by taking photos on our iphones and
android, then shaming them online more than worrying about making ends meet.
Law enforcers like our friendly policemen are also pretty well paid thereby
decreasing corruption cases here. Therefore, you can be sure that our local
policemen are on your side. That is of course, unless you are a criminal here.
(it's not so much fun being one here)
Also, it is interesting to note that there are almost zero protests here apart
from a bunch or crazies who want their CPF (our national retirement scheme)
monies back.
2)
Laws in Singapore are ENFORCED:
Unlike many countries in the world, Singapore enforces its laws. The system here
means what it says and does what it means. We impose very tough laws and
actually carry them out to deter people who "try their luck".
For example, many would remember @Michael
P. Fay who was a teenager convicted of public vandalism here and was
charged and sentenced to jail+fine+Caning. Caning here is a heavy punishment
meted out to crimes such as rape but is also used here for a petty offence like
vandalism. You break the law here, it is all black and white. Even a plea from
then American President Bill Clinton did not make our government waver in
upholding its justice. (can you trust a government that backs down every time
some big boy pushes your system?)
Another example is drugs possession or trafficking beyond certain limits being
punishable with Death by Hanging. Mandatory death sentences are given for people
who import, export or found possessing for example
- 30g cocaine
- 250g methamphetamine
- 15g diamorphine (heroin)
Possession of firearms here is also prohibited. I believe this prevents large
scale crimes as the guys with the biggest guns are our police and our army.
Sale of alcohol was also recently banned after 10.30pm as a result of the Little
India riots (which happened as a result of an indian national's death) @Little
India Riot: One Year Later - The night that changed Singapore (to
prevent people from going crazy after drinking booze) The involved foreign
workers were also repatriated without question (although humans rights activists
will complain about this) @
In short, you get the gist that Singapore will punish crime heavily even for
petty ones to deter people from trying. Other than that, we also slap you with
fines for illegal parking and are efficient at catching you for speeding with
our new speed cameras.
3)
Educational campaigns in Schools
Although it is not 100% fool-proof, the
government spends time and effort to educate our children from young about the
harm drugs and cigarettes can do to our bodies. As a result you have a
whole system of concerted efforts that collectively condition and deter people
away from committing crimes from young age.
Secret societies and gangs were for example clamped down again recently after
horrific killings by teenagers at a resort here back in 2010. @Downtown
East murder: He didn't want to 'lose face' @Downtown
East murder: Five youths sentenced to jail and caning The government
started rounding the youths up and again used the CrimeWatch series as an
educating platform to teach the public especially children how it was not worth
to lose your life over such stupid acts (there was a time where youths went
around looking for trouble with staring incidents leading to fights).
-----------------
As a Singaporean, it is from my own experience that you can walk right out of
your house (even ladies) at 3am or 4am onto the streets usually with not much
safety issues at all. Unless you are in secluded areas, usually the streets
would occasionally have cars or taxis driving past. There are also increasingly
24 hour eateries springing up. (Human activity round the clock means that petty
crimes like theft and robbery is tough because people are everywhere and police
patrols especially at night)
Basically, Crime isn't worth it when you
have a stable and peaceful life. #noneedthuglife
4) Zhun-Yong Ong, lives in Singapore Answered Nov 26, 2015
Most East Asian
societies (Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea) have very low crime
rates once they reach a certain level of economic development. This is very
likely to be due to certain cultural/Confucianist values that they have in
common. Violent crime is rare in most places in China and Japan.
Singapore is culturally an East Asian society as its population is 75 percent
Chinese. There is nothing particularly remarkable about Singapore's low crime
rate when you compare it to other East Asian countries. Arguments along the
lines that it is due to Singapore's strict laws (e.g. liberal use of capital
punishment and caning) have utterly no basis in rigorous sociological and
criminology studies [1].
The below chart [2] shows the homicide
rate for Hong Kong and Singapore in the period from 1967 to 2007. Hong Kong
performed its last execution in 1966. Nonetheless, the homicide rates in
Singapore and Hong Kong track each other quite closely. Drug-related crime rates
are also very low in Hong Kong despite it not having any capital punishment for
drug-related offences.
Desmond Ng, lives in Singapore Answered Nov 19, 2015
We have an efficient police force, who is well trained, equipped and supplied. We are a very technologically advanced country, around every corner you have CCTV cameras and whatnot, and our high population density makes it so that every burglar/thief/murderer etc has little space to hide, and is often observed by many people. Criminals are often discouraged by our low crime rates, good records of success and their publicity efforts. (There's a TV show called Crimewatch that shows tough cases that the police cracked, so many probably think: "If they cant get away with it, what chance do i?"
5) Finn Koh, lives in Singapore Answered Nov 25, 2015
I think the answers
here are telling on the way most Singaporeans think but probably not complete in
understanding why is crime rate low.
I have heard that in Singapore, there are places where drug addicts can check
themselves in, rehab, get out without a jail or criminal record. The person who
told me about this scheme also shared that the subscription rate is very low
despite Singapore having one of the harshest drug laws. Why would you not take a
"get out of jail free" card if the probability of getting caught actually
factored in your decision in committing a crime?
The assumption in some of the answers suggest that people, criminals or not, are
rational actors and will decide that the risk of getting caught is too high,
hence not commit the crime. However, that's an incomplete understanding because
there are crimes committed that are irrational and even if someone is making a
rational decision, getting caught is only half the equation.
Suppose you are in living in Country A,
where there is a 90% chance of you being caught when you commit a crime and the
punishment are harsh. Surely, you won't be committing a crime right?
Now if you are living in Country B,
where there is only a 10% chance of you being caught when you commit a crime and
there a little punishment, just rehab. Will you then be committing a crime?
Your answer is still probably no and the reason is because of incentives. Human
behaviour are motivated by incentives and your chances of being caught and the
punishment is hardly an incentive. However, if you are in Country A, starving,
with a family of 5 to feed, and you noticed that shopkeeper left his door ajar
and there is a piece of bread that can feed your family for the day, what will
you do?
Crime rate is lower here because the
incentives to commit crime is not as high. There are less broken windows, people
are generally surviving and getting by. As such, petty crimes are much lower
because there are very little incentives to do so.
Lastly, I'm too lazy to find the statistics, but my sense is that perhaps there
are lesser petty crimes in Singapore but probably much more white collar crimes
than other comparable countries.
Nathalie Boh, lived in Singapore Answered May 9, 2016
"Low crime doesn't mean no crime" and from watching "Crimewatch", one might think that Singaporeans are incredibly naive and more than happy to transfer money to random people they meet on the Internet.
There's not a whole lot of violent crimes in SG (plenty of petty theft and pick-pocketing since people in SG feel safe to leave purses and mobile phones unattended), and I'd say that crime in SG is more sophisticated than your average mugging.
Most of the crime committed to ordinary citizens seems to be online scams and blackmail.
SG is small and it's easy to track down people with the help of informants and technology.
Back on Crimewatch, the detectives that you see on the popular TV series are either actors or the more "presentable ones". They give the public the sense of the "friendly neighborhood bobby" - the actual detectives aren't so telegenic. Or friendly.
Under Singapore law, one is presumed guilty until proven otherwise.