Abstract:
Since the introduction of a sentencing council in Singapore five years ago in March 2013, the Singapore appellate courts have been issuing sentencing guideline judgments with increased frequency, comprehensiveness, and sophistication in analysis and methodology. This article reviews these judgments, discusses the effectiveness of the recent approach towards achieving goals such as consistency, transparency and coherence in sentencing, and proposes some modest suggestions moving forward. To assist lawyers who may be involved in proposing sentencing frameworks, the article ends with a guide to constructing frameworks, and a table of the 60-odd guideline judgments that have been issued in these past five years.