MP | Harsher punishment is not sole remedy to curb rising crime rate

The introduction of harsher punishment alone might not be the sole measure that can be used to rein in rising crime despite the number of cases that inundated the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) last judicial year, the office’s Prosecutor General Ip Son Sang claimed.
His remarks came yesterday during a ceremony welcoming a fresh legal year, in which the top prosecutor admitted that the number of criminal cases they have handled soared by 5.38 percent to 14,435, while cases pending settlement stands at 14,317 in 2015.
“In fact, the annual cases on our record has been picking up since 2010,” said Ip. Of the 5,530 prosecuted between September 2014 and August this year, half of them have been locals. According to the official statistics provided, the offences chiefly revolve around money-related crimes, illegal migration and assault.
The prosecutor praised the authorities’ efforts early this year to optimize their internal regime, yet noted that anti-crime policies or related penalties ought to be formulated in a “people-­oriented” way, instead of blindly pursuing heavier punishment.
Ip also noted a dramatic hike in industrial accidents last year, a total of 527 cases compared to the 338 cases recorded in 2013. “We think that employers and their employees, or even the regulator should hold this issue in high regard to avoid reoccurrence,” he said. AU