As another couple of traffickers are about to be hanged, HR activists are out again to whine about the injustice and inhumanity of the capital punishment.What they often like to claim is that there's no proof death penalty deters drug smuggling, according to various "studies".Now, while they never provide actual sources (because why?, amirite?), the problem with academic studies is that they tend to disregard other factors and then statistically equalize the outcomes trying to make generalized conclusions.One of the issues is, of course, that mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking is practiced almost only in underdeveloped countries. This also means that while the punishment exists, it may be fairly easy to evade due to corruption or ineffective policing.Neither, as we know, is the case in Singapore.In other places - like Iran or Afghanistan - drug trade may be one of the only ways to either survive or achieve a modicum of prosperity, and if you have a choice between destitution and decent survival, you are more likely to choose the latter.Again, this is not the case in Singapore either.
There is an easier way to gauge public policy, however, and it is by looking at raw data.Now, many jurisdictions do not publish comparable figures (sadly) but fortunately both Singaporean CNB and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission publish figures on the street value of drugs seized in a particular year.(Please note that figures for Australia are for a 12 month period of 19/20, as reports are only released in October of the following year, while CNB reports data for the full calendar year, in this case 2021).In 2021 Singaporean authorities seized drugs worth approximately S$18 million, which was already an increase of 50% over S$12 million a year earlier and just S$6.5 million in 2019.Some people tried to claim that such a large increase "proves" that death penalty isn't working but the reality is that the market itself has grown enormously (in Australia it varied between $3 and $9.2 billion over the past 3 periods).The latest figures show a haul of a whopping S$9.24 billion in drugs seized in Australia (that's the tall red bar in the image) - that's over 500 times more in a country with a population of just 4.5 times that of Singapore.
Or, if you prefer. 100+ times more on a per capita basis.Now, those holding vigils for the soon-to-be-hanged smugglers are going to say there's no evidence it's death penalty that is the cause - and I agree, it's extremely difficult to prove a direct causal link, mainly because there's no other developed country with laws as strict as Singapore.
But I think it's pretty evident given the enormity of the gulf between two quite relatable countries like SG and Australia - both developed, both highly urbanized, both with rather strict border measures etc. - that what Singapore does simply works.And yes, that includes capital punishment.I don't ever remember activists holding vigils for the dead from overdose. While I do not have figures for Singapore (it doesn't seem that anything is published) overdose deaths in Australia stand at over 2000 people each year.Two thousand - and I do not recall any candles lit for them anywhere, other than by their grieving families.Meanwhile, some two bit crooks who thought they could make easy money by smuggling narcotics into Singapore are getting mass media attention and pleas for clemency, so they can live out their lives on Singaporean taxpayers' penny.Are you kidding me?Narcotics are a plague and a growing one. They not only ruin the lives of users and their families, but finance criminal activity, wars and terrorism, leaving a mountain high pile of bodies every year.The fact that Singapore's drug smuggling is a 100 times smaller issue than it is for Australia is the clearest evidence that this death count can be reduced to only those who want to make money off someone else's suffering.That's how capital punishment saves lives.
