Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam

Abstract

Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia investigates criminal law and practice relevant to drugs regulation in three Southeast Asian jurisdictions: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. These jurisdictions represent the spectrum of approaches to drugs regulation in Southeast Asia, highlighting differences in practice between civil and common law countries, and between liberal and authoritarian states. This book is divided into five chapters. The first chapteroffers an account of criminal law and practice relevant to drugs regulation in three Southeast Asian jurisdictions: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. The core of the book comprises three country studies based on extensive fieldwork, each offering original analysis of criminal law and procedure in drugs regulation in three very different Southeast Asian states. We approach each country by examining, in turn, investigation, trial, and sentencing. The last category also includes the death penalty, as well as the different mechanisms available for pardon and clemency. In short, we frame our analysis to reflect how a defendant prosecuted for drugs offences is treated in each jurisdiction, in a loosely sequential order.