Abstract
This article assesses the use of capital punishment for drug trafficking and related crimes from a comparative perspective. Domestic narcotics legislation, as well as important drug trafficking cases in four Southeast Asian nations (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand) are examined in-depth and compared to the United States, which plays an important role in eradicating global drug-related problems. This article contends that the use of capital punishment is disproportionate to the gravity of drug-related offenses and that international drug control and enforcement treaties never suggested using such sanctions to deter crime. Fortunately, four Southeast Asian countries in this study, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, currently realize this disproportionality and have become reluctant to carry out executions for drug trafficking; even though they continue to sentence a large number of drug-related offenders to death annually, they do not actually carry out these executions. Future research related to this topic is also recommended in this article.
Highlights
For many decades, drug trafficking has posed a major threat to the international community [1,2]
There is no mandatory capital punishment for those convicted of drug trafficking offenses; instead, the death penalty is available according to judicial discretion in sentencing as the maximum penalty
It should further be noted that in Indonesia, the death penalty cannot be imposed on illicit drug users; instead, medical and social rehabilitation is to be used as the main method of punishment when courts find an individual guilty of abusing narcotics (Articles 47 and 48 of Law No 22 of 1997) [63]
Summary
Drug trafficking has posed a major threat to the international community [1,2]. The highest rate of methamphetamine abuse in the world occurs in Thailand, and according to an UNODC report, 0.2 percent of the total population of Malaysia is addicted to opiates [2] It was not surprising when many countries in Southeast Asia began imposing very harsh penalties on drug trafficking when compared to other nations [2]. This study concentrates primary attention toward the use of capital punishment for drug trafficking offenses in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, since the use of the death penalty for such crimes in these four countries is being vigorously debated by legislators, government officials in many countries, as well as international organizations [10,11,12]. A Brief History of the Use of Capital Punishment for Drug Trafficking Offenses
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