Examining intellectual functioning and disability in Singapore's legal landscape

Individuals with intellectual disabilities constitute a significant portion of those managed within the criminal justice system. Courts are increasingly challenged with determining appropriate sentencing. Additionally, many of these individuals have complex social and medical backgrounds, necessitating a multidisciplinary approach to assess their legal and moral culpability. Consequently, these factors impact sentencing outcomes, including decisions regarding incarceration versus rehabilitation programs. This current study utilises all available court judgments involving intellectual functioning and disability recorded on LawNet (Singapore's legal database) from 1985 to 2024 to examine their relationship with sentencing considerations. Broadly, this study reviews sentencing considerations related to individuals' intellectual functioning and the legislation in place to support this population. Specifically, this study further scopes into examining the outcomes of judgments that had the offender undergo an intellectual ability assessment, and its relation to current legislative frameworks' responses to the complex process of judicial decision-making. Hence, this study examines the challenges faced in tailoring legislative frameworks to the complex nature of intellectual functioning and disability in Singapore's legal arena.