Photo: Tim Hüfner/Unsplash
TLDR: In March 2021, a Bill was proposed in Parliament to increase the maximum punishments for certain crimes. Two of these are related to sexual offences against young people, specifically, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a minor, and causing a minor to view a sexual image. Maximum jail terms for these offences were intended to be raised from one to two years.
This Bill was passed in September 2021 and will become law.
In a social media post, President Halimah commented on these changes, but added that more has to be done to protect girls against paedophiles in their own homes.
More thoughts: In 2020, a whole slew of new sexual offences against children and young people came into effect. These including sexual communication with minors (sections 376EB and 376EC) and sexual activity or images in the presence of minors (sections 376ED and EE). More information about these and other sexual offences can be found in Lex & Rex: The Race for Truth.
While the first offence (sexual communication with minors) carries a maximum sentence of 2 years’ jail, the second (sexual activity or images in the presence of minors) originally carried only a maximum of 1 year’s jail.
One of the reasons for the current legislative change is to more closely align the penalties for these offences.
On a more general note, child sexual abuse is appalling and cannot be tolerated. The law has been stepped up time and again to impose wider and heavier penalties on child abusers, but as President Halimah said, the issues we need to think about as a community go beyond the law. We need to put more thought into how to effectively protect children right from the start, by preventing abuse from even starting, and quickly detecting early incidences.
Singapore has in place an excellent legal and enforcement framework, but the law has its limitations, especially when it comes to violations against vulnerable victims like children that often takes place behind the closed doors of homes. One child abused is one child too many. Do you have any good ideas about how law and society can work together better to protect you and other young people?