Key Updates On Criminal Law

Key Updates on Criminal Law

There are presently 11 offences which carry the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia. After the Special Committee to Review Alternative Sentences to the Mandatory Death Penalty, the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) arrived at a decision to review and amend the laws on the death penalty, which would give judges a wider discretion in sentencing.

According to Parliament, there are 1,342 convicts on death row in Malaysia as at February 2022. A moratorium against the death penalty was given to the convicts in June 2022.

According to the Law and Institutional Reform Minister, the amendments will not abolish the death penalty entirely but gives a wider discretion to the courts to decide on the appropriate punishment, with a focus on rehabilitative and restorative justice.