Ageing population leads to drop in S'pore crime rate
Saturday, August 9, 2008
SINGAPORE has suspended plans to build two new jails, partly because an ageing population has led to a fall in the crime rate, the prisons director said in remarks published yesterday.
Ng Joo Hee told the Straits Times two of four planned new prisons would not be built for now after the average daily inmate population hit a 10-year low of 11,768 in 2007.
The numbers began to decline after peaking at 17,697 in 2002. Prison authorities had earlier expected the number of inmates to reach 23,000 beyond 2010, the report said.
One of the reasons for the decline is a lower crime rate as a result of an ageing population, the prisons director said.
"In an ageing population, you generally see a lower crime rate. Therefore, there is lower incarceration," he said.
Singapore's crime rate last year was 696 per 100,000 people, down from 974 in 1997, the newspaper said.
Other reasons for the decline in the number of prisoners include a successful anti-drugs drive, fewer convicts returning to jail after their release and courts becoming more open to other sentencing options such as probation, the newspaper report said.
In 1998, almost one in two freed prisoners were back in jail within two years but in 2005, it was different story when only one in four returned.
AFP
Ng Joo Hee told the Straits Times two of four planned new prisons would not be built for now after the average daily inmate population hit a 10-year low of 11,768 in 2007.
The numbers began to decline after peaking at 17,697 in 2002. Prison authorities had earlier expected the number of inmates to reach 23,000 beyond 2010, the report said.
One of the reasons for the decline is a lower crime rate as a result of an ageing population, the prisons director said.
"In an ageing population, you generally see a lower crime rate. Therefore, there is lower incarceration," he said.
Singapore's crime rate last year was 696 per 100,000 people, down from 974 in 1997, the newspaper said.
Other reasons for the decline in the number of prisoners include a successful anti-drugs drive, fewer convicts returning to jail after their release and courts becoming more open to other sentencing options such as probation, the newspaper report said.
In 1998, almost one in two freed prisoners were back in jail within two years but in 2005, it was different story when only one in four returned.
AFP
Business Besides Oil
