Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon: Opening address delivered at the Yellow Ribbon Community Day

INTERNATIONAL CORRECTIONS AND PRISONS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2024

YELLOW RIBBON COMMUNITY DAY

“The Criminal Justice Ecosystem: Beyond Crime and Punishment”

Wednesday, 4 September 2024

The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon*

Supreme Court of Singapore

I. Introduction

1.      A very good morning. I am delighted to be speaking to you at this Yellow Ribbon Community Day, and for those of you who have joined us from abroad, a very warm welcome to Singapore. While we might hail from different countries and backgrounds, what brings us all together today is the firm belief that we share in the importance of safeguarding, and where possible, strengthening the criminal justice system in our societies. This is a belief that we hold because of our strong and abiding interest in ensuring that the system is designed and operated in a way that best serves its purpose.

2.     The state of the criminal justice system tends to reflect the overall health of our societies. The criminal justice system strives to secure peace and order in our communities,⁽¹⁾ and it is, at its core, an expression of the values that each society is collectively committed to promoting and defending.⁽²⁾ That extends to how we as a society will deal with those of our members who are said to have transgressed. The values that our criminal justice system safeguards are therefore not limited to the protection of community interests and societal morality – they also include principles such as the right to a fair trial,⁽³⁾ and objectives such as securing, where possible, the rehabilitation, reform and reintegration of ex-offenders.⁽⁴⁾ These values give expression to our shared humanity, and to the hope and belief that those of us who do stumble and fall are rarely beyond redemption.

3.     The courts, of course, play a critical role in upholding criminal justice. They rule on the guilt or innocence of accused persons, and determine the appropriate punishment for each offender, within the applicable legislative scheme. But the courts are just one part of what I will refer to as the “criminal justice ecosystem” – by which I mean the much broader matrix of laws, policies, institutions and initiatives that, together, seek to provide a more holistic and longer-term response to criminal offending. This broader criminal justice ecosystem will be the focus of my brief address today, and I will highlight three key themes that run through this ecosystem and bring it to life. These are: care, community, and collaboration.

II. Care

4.     Let me begin with care. Our emphasis on the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders reflects a commitment to treating them as fellow human beings who deserve care, despite what they might have done. Rehabilitation aims to tackle the root causes of an offender’s criminality, while reintegration seeks to enable an ex-offender to build a new life, free from the shadow of crime, after he has served his sentence. Underlying both of these goals is the belief that each person has the capacity to change for the better, and is more than the sum of the mistakes and poor choices that he has made. Justice and human dignity therefore demand that an ex-offender who has reformed himself and repaid his debt to society should be allowed to rejoin the community, resume the rights of full citizenship,  and have a fair chance to make a fresh start.⁽⁵⁾

 5.     The goals of advancing rehabilitation and reintegration guide the courts when they sentence offenders in individual cases, but a lens of care has also shaped our broader criminal justice landscape in other ways. Let me offer some examples in just two areas.

(a) The first is systemic reform. In 2010, Singapore introduced a regime of community sentences to expand the range of sentencing options available to the courts in cases involving relatively minor offences. For example, mandatory treatment orders require offenders with treatable psychiatric conditions to undergo psychiatric treatment, while day reporting orders require offenders to report to designated day reporting centres for monitoring, and may also require them to undergo counselling and rehabilitation programmes.⁽⁶⁾ Another significant reform is the introduction of the possibility of admitting repeat drug consumers who have not committed other criminal offences to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre for treatment, instead of charging and punishing them, potentially leading them to face lengthy terms of imprisonment.⁽⁷⁾

(b) These systemic reforms have been complemented by strong institutional support. An important example of this is the SPS’s holistic throughcare approach, which seeks to address the risks and needs of inmates – such as by offering psychology-based correctional programmes and skills training while they are incarcerated, and  importantly, by following through with them in the community after they have been released.⁽⁸⁾ And, in April this year, the SPS launched the “Corrections 2030” initiative to expand and strengthen its rehabilitation programmes for inmates through a range of strategies, including by leveraging on technology.⁽⁹⁾

II. Community

6.     But the task of rehabilitation and reintegration would be much more difficult, if not impossible, without the support of the community. For this reason, another central theme in our criminal justice ecosystem has been to harness the power of the community in supporting potential offenders and ex-offenders with efforts to bring them back into the fold of society.

7.     Research has shown that family and social ties and gainful employment are critical in facilitating an ex-offender’s successful reintegration into the community and so to reduce recidivism.⁽¹⁰⁾ And this is borne out by the many stories told by ex-offenders who gratefully acknowledge how their loved ones and social support systems have been pillars of strength and encouragement for them, and have fortified their resolve to turn their lives around, desist from crime and stay on the right path.⁽¹¹⁾ This theme also finds expression in Professor Fergus McNeill’s concept of “tertiary desistance”, which comes from the ex-offender’s sense of belonging to a moral and political community, and which goes beyond changes in an ex-offender’s behaviour in terms of abstaining from crime (which is referred to as primary desistance) and changes in his identity (which is referred to as secondary desistance).⁽¹²⁾ We are privileged to have Professor McNeill with us today, and I understand he will be delivering a presentation later this morning on his work in this field.

8.     While family and community support are key motivators for an individual’s desistance, it is equally important to appreciate how a person’s offending and incarceration can affect the lives of those around them – and, in particular, the impact this has on their families. Initiatives that seek to provide support to affected families are therefore also crucial. For example, the Children Support Programme seeks to address the needs of children whose parents are incarcerated by providing tuition and casework support as well as social enrichment for them.⁽¹³⁾ Today, you will be hearing presentations from many other community partners such as New Life Stories, The Salvation Army, and many more. All of these valued community partners, with their respective initiatives, have the collective goal of trying to break cycles of intergenerational offending and to minimise the adverse effects of criminal behaviour on other, innocent lives.⁽¹⁴⁾

IV. Collaboration 

9.     These various efforts would not be as meaningful or as effective as they are if they were undertaken in isolation or in siloes. This brings me to the third key theme in the criminal justice ecosystem, and that is the importance of close and sustained collaboration between various stakeholders that each play a different and important part in an ex-offender’s journey towards rehabilitation, reintegration, and long-term desistance.

10.     Such collaboration takes place most obviously between the agencies and organisations that work together in this space. A particularly noteworthy example is the CARE Network, CARE being the acronym for “Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-Offenders”. The CARE Network was formed nearly 25 years ago with seven founding agencies, and it has since expanded its work collaborating with over 100 community partners. It brings together government ministries and statutory boards; social service agencies such as the Singapore After-Care Association and the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association; as well as Family Service Centres, Halfway Houses and grassroots organisations.⁽¹⁵⁾ More recently, the Desistor Network was launched in April 2023 as a collaborative effort between the SPS and like-minded community partners.⁽¹⁶⁾ 

11.     The criminal justice ecosystem extends to the whole of society, and this means that all sectors of society can and should be part of this collaborative effort to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders. 

(a) In particular, support from employers can go a long way in helping ex-offenders secure and hold down gainful employment,⁽¹⁷⁾ which – as I mentioned earlier – plays a very important role in facilitating their reintegration into our communities. Today, there are more than 6,500 employers registered with Yellow Ribbon Singapore to support the provision of career opportunities for ex-offenders.⁽¹⁸⁾  Trade associations and partners from the precision engineering, media, logistics and food services sectors have also stepped forward to collaborate with Yellow Ribbon Singapore on Train-and-Place initiatives to support inmates in upskilling and developing themselves.⁽¹⁹⁾ These efforts empower ex-offenders to take ownership of their own reintegration journey. 

(b) In turn, ex-offenders themselves can give back to society and pay it forward by volunteering with community partners and helping other ex-offenders on their journeys towards rehabilitation and reintegration – as many ex-offenders have done. With their particular experiences and a first-hand understanding of the difficulties that others in a similar position might face, ex-offenders are often especially well-placed to provide meaningful support and guidance, while showing other ex-offenders the brighter future that they, too, can work towards by rebuilding their lives.

(c) And, more broadly, all of us should do our part to create an inclusive environment in our communities that supports the reintegration of ex-offenders and reduces the social stigma and isolation that they may struggle with. The Yellow Ribbon Project, launched in 2004 by the CARE Network, is Singapore’s national movement to build a more inclusive society by changing societal mindsets to give ex-offenders a second chance in life and enable them to give back to society. The Yellow Ribbon Project celebrates its 20th Anniversary of Championing Second Chances this year. For two decades, these efforts have helped to raise awareness of the importance of second chances, encouraged societal acceptance of ex-offenders and their families, and inspired community action to support their rehabilitation and reintegration into our society. Under the “Corrections 2030” initiative, Yellow Ribbon Singapore and the SPS intend to do even more to mobilise community action. These efforts aim to encourage and enable the community to step forward and contribute, through ground-up initiatives, to the creation of a sustainable ecosystem to support our ex-offenders.

12.     But events such as this conference teach us that, in a broader sense, there is real value in collaboration taking place across borders. In truth, we are seeing the emergence of an international criminal justice ecosystem, with organisations such as the ICPA, and the growing body of international correctional professionals, forming a critical part of it. This is to be commended because of the tremendous value to be had in sharing our experiences and learning from one another, as we reflect on how our own criminal justice systems can each best achieve their aims.   

V. Conclusion

13.     When we think of criminal justice, we tend to think first of crime and punishment. The immediate images that typically come to mind are of offenders being arrested and convicted for breaking the law, and then serving out their sentences in prison. But a broader view of the criminal justice ecosystem reveals a far more nuanced picture. Beyond crime and punishment, this ecosystem also demonstrates great care for those members of our society who have transgressed, through a shared commitment to their rehabilitation and reintegration. That ecosystem is supported by a wide-ranging community of different stakeholders whose collaboration, at many levels and in many forms, enables the broader system to do its work and to achieve its aims. And when we step back to consider the tremendous positive impact that these efforts can have on the lives of those that they touch, I suggest this shines a light on how the criminal justice ecosystem can ultimately serve some of the most fundamental objectives of criminal justice – which is to prevent crime, and to preserve law, order and peace in our societies.

14.     Let me close by commending the ICPA and the SPS teams for their excellent work in putting this event and this conference together. Once again, I warmly welcome all of you to Singapore, and I wish you a complete and fulfilling programme in the days yet to come.

15.     Thank you very much.