What on earth is a Voluntary Surrender?
In essence, a voluntary surrender is visiting the police to confess to a crime you’ve dedicated, as opposed to looking ahead to the police to find and arrest you.
What Transpires Whenever you Voluntarily Surrender to your Police?
The treatments you'll deal with whenever you voluntarily surrender to your police are the same as for those who had been arrested.
The steps taken towards you rely largely on no matter whether you’ve committed an arrestable or non-arrestable offence.
Arrestable offences confer with offences that allow the law enforcement to produce an arrest without having a warrant, and contain offences like theft, theft and rape. The rule of thumb is always that offences that are punishable with at the very least three many years of imprisonment, or possibly a death sentence, are categorised as arrestable.
Alternatively, a non-arrestable offence is a person exactly where the law enforcement will require to obtain a warrant ahead of finishing up an arrest. Offences that drop less than this category are voluntarily leading to harm and dishonest misappropriation of property, amongst Some others.
In case you have fully commited an arrestable offence
For those who have dedicated an arrestable offence, the law enforcement will follow an arrest method that commences with taking you into custody right after your voluntary surrender.
The law enforcement will then start an investigation, which entails using witness statements. Alternatively, maybe you have to make a recognize assertion Should the police decides to go forward with urgent charges.
You might be necessary to have a polygraph (or lie detector) test or take part in an identification parade, through which that you are lined up with other people to allow victims and eyewitnesses to discover you, in addition.
Ideally, you ought to be reasonably perfectly-versed with all your rights in custody, like the appropriate to help make a telephone contact to All your family members or to refer to a lawyer (presented that these functions will likely not inhibit the investigation). However, it is vital to notice that the ideal to consult an attorney ordinarily arises only following interrogations have already been executed.
For more info, you might want to refer to our post on police custody in Singapore.
Should you have fully commited a non-arrestable offence
During this scenario, even When you have turned oneself in on the law enforcement, you won't be taken into custody immediately.
Rather, the police will Obtain witness studies and report any functions associated. Any probable sufferer(s) of your offence will be advised to file a Magistrate’s Complaint for more action for being taken.
When the Grievance has become gained, the Justice of the peace will then come to a decision just what the most fitted class of motion are going to be. It is only at this point that a warrant can be issued to take you into police custody, if the Magistrate directs the police to conduct an investigation into the Complaint.
Is Making a Voluntary Surrender a Mitigating Factor?
Voluntarily surrendering to the police demonstrates a willingness to cooperate and indicates likely regret and repentance. Your surrender would also enable the law enforcement to speculate their time and methods into other investigations.
This may Enjoy a component from the decide’s determination and you could be presented a lighter sentence on your degree of cooperation.
Situation research: No jail phrase following voluntary surrender
In 2018, then 24-year-old Ekawit Tangtrakarn, received a $six,000 great for defaulting on his Countrywide Support (NS) responsibilities.
Though Ekawit largely lived in Thailand, he was registered as being a Singapore Citizen – creating him liable for NS. In Oct 2015, he shed his Singaporean citizenship just after failing to go ahead and take Oath of Renunciation, Allegiance and Loyalty in 12 months of his 21st birthday.
Nevertheless, losing his Singaporean citizenship didn't ease him of his NS obligations, and Ekawit afterwards voluntarily returned to Singapore to experience his fees for defaulting on them. His voluntary return Hence held excess weight as being a mitigating factor.
As a result, once the courtroom took other mitigating aspects into account, what could have been a most three-12 months imprisonment phrase along with a $10,000 great, staying the utmost penalties under the Enlistment Act, became a probable nine-week jail phrase that was inevitably minimized into a $6,000 fine.
Owning your prices taken into consideration for your purposes of sentencing
On the subject of your conviction therefore you are going through numerous charges, voluntarily admitting towards your offences also stops the specific situation of the prosecution continuing with Every single charge against you independently. This enables for the potential of you having these Singapore criminal lawyer fees taken into consideration for sentencing in its place.
Due to this fact, you could encounter much less fees or even a reduced sentence when compared to in case you were to deny or dispute the fees.
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Voluntarily surrendering on the police may establish for being helpful afterwards within your case. Your admission on your crime can be properly-obtained and do the job with your favour, decreasing your punishment noticeably.
Should you be still Doubtful on how to carry on, it is possible to engage a prison defence lawyer to hunt suggestions on your situation, in addition to explain your rights. A seasoned law firm can best put together you on what to expect if you switch your self in and the way to manage any investigations performed in opposition to you.