Imposition of Caning for Crimes Committed by Offenders Above Age 50 against Children

27 Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to sexual offences or violence cases involving young children, whether the Ministry is considering the imposition of judicial caning for offenders who are above 50 years old at the time of sentencing but were below 50 years old at the time of the commission of the offence or arrest.

Mr K Shanmugam: Under section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code, we cannot carry out the punishment of caning on men who are above 50 years old at the time of caning.

The question of whether to make changes to the statutory age limit for caning has been addressed previously. This was during the Second Reading of the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill in September 2021, in response to a similar suggestion to remove the age limit for the caning of serious sexual offenders.

The reasons given were: First, the number of men above the age of 50 at the point of arrest for serious offences that attract the punishment of caning, was significantly lower than that of men aged 50 and younger; second, where an offender was not eligible for caning, the Court had the discretion to impose in lieu, an additional imprisonment term of up to 12 months.

The data does not show that there is a high number of people who commit offences eligible for caning just prior to turning 50 years of age.