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- If we allow the political climate to influence the justice system, would bias on the part of lawmakers, who are mostly from one party, in Singapore play a part in this?
(i.e. they could potentially influence certain decisions for their agenda)

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- carried out mainly for murder and drug-trafficking offences
- each execution in Singapore is carried out by hanging prisoners at Changi Prison at dawn
- according to a survey by The Straits Times in 2005, 95% of Singaporeans think the death penalty should be retained
- the death penalty has seen its success and effectiveness. the number of people being executed under the death penalty has decreased dramatically, from 26 in 1991 to 1 in 2020.
- however, despite its success, Singaporeans are still wondering if there is a more humane way of sentencing convicts, while still keeping the number of convicts as low as it is now.
- questions: is it ethical to sentence someone to death for their wrongdoing even if it is for the greater good? how can we achieve justice in our country while being ethical? should we let ethics get in the way of justice?

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personally, i don't think the death penalty is ethical. however, this does not make it unnecessary. the death penalty executes someone for a severe wrongdoing, like drug trafficking. however, i believe that taking a life because of a mistake is not ethical. a life is a RIGHT entitled to a human, and taking that away from them is cruel. even though i agree that the death penalty does help in controlling the crime rate using the element of fear, i believe the value of a human life cannot be destroyed by his/her misconduct.

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1. life without parole (life imprisonment)
- the death penalty takes away someone's life, making them non-existent in the world
- life without parole, however, will mean that they will still live on and be able to reflect on what they did.

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Is there always a completely neutral and right stance on ethics and justice, that is not affected by personal interest or bias?

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Ethics: moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

Justice: to uphold the righteousness/ lawfulness of a cause

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1. political bias
- bias due to political stance of judge
- may be more likely to rule in favour of the party holding similar political stances
2. cultural/racial bias
- tyranny of the majority: especially in homogenous community with people predominantly of certain ethnicity/religion/culture, there may be lesser tolerance for differing views/practices
- racism/xenophobia also plays a part
3. bias caused by societal stereotypes/expectation
- sometimes, due to deep-rooted societal norms in the judicial system, certain judgements seen as "fair" may not be so
- a tinted lens in which we view issues then causes judicial system to be biased

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In some cases, witness reports may not be accurate due to faults in memory when recalling the incident. This may be caused by the psychological "cues" that prompt the witness to produce evidence that is deemed "correct". For example, if a suspect is deemed by public opinion to be guilty, a witness may recall the suspect committing the crime, even though he/she does not remember the exact features of the offender. The same thing also happens to the victim. This is especially prevalent in sexual assault cases, where the victim is unable to pick out suspect/picks out wrong suspect due to certain psychological reasons.
In other cases, due to personal biases against/in support of the suspect, witnesses may produce testimonies that are in favour/not in favour of the party.

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Execution of drug trafficking convict put on hold pending court review

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SINGAPORE - A Singaporean drug trafficking convict who was to be hanged last Friday (Sept 18) is now waiting at least two more weeks, after the Court of Appeal allowed more submissions to be made on certain points of the law.

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- onus is on the lawmakers + judicial bodies' part to ensure that the political climate does not make the justice system less trustworthy or exploits loopholes in it. Instead, the laws should be changed for the better, based on how the population has grown towards it.
- In addition, should lawmakers, who are politicians, have a part to play in this, to make it as just as possible without influencing the decisions with their own beliefs?

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1. types of cloning:
a) gene (DNA) cloning --> produces copies of genes or segments of DNA
b) reproductive cloning --> produces copies of whole animals
c) therapeutic cloning --> produces embryonic stem cells for experiments aimed at creating tissues to replace injured or diseased tissues

2. what animals have been cloned?
In 1979, researchers produced the first genetically identical mice by splitting mouse embryos in the test tube and then implanting the resulting embryos into the wombs of adult female mice. Shortly after that, researchers produced the first genetically identical cows, sheep and chickens by transferring the nucleus of a cell taken from an early embryo into an egg that had been emptied of its nucleus. It was not until 1996, that researchers succeeded in cloning the first mammal from a mature (somatic) cell taken from an adult animal. Scottish researchers finally produced Dolly, the lamb from the udder cell of a 6-year-old sheep. Two years later, researchers in Japan cloned eight calves from a single cow, but only four survived.

3. have humans been cloned?
Long story short, no. However, in 1998, scientists in South Korea claimed to have successfully cloned a human embryo, but said the experiment was interrupted very early when the clone was just a group of four cells.

4. is cloning unethical?
Nuclear transfer is a crude disruption the natural biological process. Most cloned animals die during and, because of abnormal placentas or abnormally large foetuses, can kill the surrogate mother. Of the few reproductive clones that survive, many are unhealthy. Hence, attempting to clone a human being would be clearly unethical. However, even if cloning humans could be done safely, opinions on whether it should be allowed are divided. Would we deny an infertile couple a chance to have a cloned child? Are there other personal and private reasons for humans to clone a lost loved one, and should we deny them that possibility? Hence, there is no real answer to this question and remains a popular topic that critics still debate about.

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It is true that GMO food allows for selective breeding of a diverse variety of "improved" food, yet there are numerous concerns surrounding it.

1. Potential harm to human health
Research by scientists globally has asserted that GMOs have no effect on human health, namely that:
1) there is no relationship between GMOs and mutations
2) organ health and function remain unaffected by GMOs
3) fertility, pregnancy and offspring are unaffected by GMOs; and 4) there is no gene transfer between GMOs and consumers.

However, there are definitely still many risks to using GMO food as compared to that of traditionally-bred food that may have been missed out or overlooked.

Conclusion: GMO food may still be unethical due to its potential to harm human health despite the fact that the current technology and experiments corroborate otherwise.

2. Potential damage to the environment
Recently, quite a number of serious problems relating to the cultivation of crops have emerged:

1) “Superweeds : The use of specific herbicides with GM herbicide-tolerant crops has led to the evolution and spread of “superweeds”, or weeds that can no longer be killed by those herbicides.

2) Biodiversity Loss: The use of some GM crops can also have negative impacts on non-target organisms and on the ecosystem.
For example, the expansion of GM herbicide-tolerant corn and soy has destroyed much of the habitat of the monarch butterfly in North America.

Conclusion: GMO food is unethical due to how it contributes to the destruction of the natural food chain and ecosystem.

3. Negative impact on traditional farming practice

1) With the emerging of superweeds and superpests, affected farmers are often forced to revert to older and more toxic chemicals and more labor,  which overshadow the promised benefits of GMO technology.

Conclusion: GMO food is unethical due to how it results in increasing difficulty of farmers to rear their crops and generate profits

4. Excessive corporate dominance
a) Since the commercial introduction of GMOs, the seed industry has rapidly consolidated, where today, just four companies control almost 60% of the seed market: Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and Dow.

Furthermore, by creating a suite of products designed to work together – for example, seeds for crops engineered to withstand Roundup, a possible human carcinogen– these companies are able to control the entire farming cycle and block out competition.
--> At the same time, given that the explosion of herbicide-resistant seeds has given way to herbicide-resistant weeds, fueling the growth of "superweeds" this leaves farmers with no choice but to continue to buy increasingly harsh chemicals, often from the same company to compensate. This sequence of events thus eventually results in the company consolidating an increasing amount of power in the corporate world.

b) Patents: Farmers who buy GMO seeds must pay licensing fees and sign contracts that dictate how they can grow the crop– and even allow seed companies to inspect their farms.

More often than not, GMO seeds are expensive and farmers must buy them each year or else be liable for patent infringement.

Furthermore, patents make independent research on GMOs difficult. Farmers must sign agreements that prohibit them from giving seeds to researchers or carrying out their own research. Meanwhile, researchers cannot conduct studies on GMOs without a license from the seed company, allowing companies to restrict the nature of research on their seeds.

Summary: GMO food is unethical due to how it prevents a just corporate seed market, where everyone has an equal chance to market their goods.

5. 'Unnaturalness' of the technology (religious and moral issues)
Summary: Genetic mutation often goes against the moral standing of many as well as religion, where many believe that it is wrong to genetically modify food since that decision alone as to how food should be like should be left to God alone. Furthermore, it is difficult to test whether, by modifying one genetic trait, another genetic trait would be left alone, which in turn may lead to contamination.

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If the population of the country feels differently about the issue than they did a decade/two ago, then it would be ethical for the justice system to follow those political changes in its rules.

For example, the Civil Rights movement in America gave African-Americans the rights to vote, even though the Constitution technically disallowed it. It was allowed to pass because African-Americans had grown to be such a huge part of the American demographic.

Similarly, in Singapore, specifically with regards to the younger population - there is a lot of talk regarding climate change. It would therefore be necessary for the participation of this (eventual) voting body in allowing for more climate legislation to be passed.

This applies to other marginalised communities in Singapore that have been disallowed housing rights until a certain age, and even then with additional restrictions, due to a misconception that these communities would make the family unit "unstable". More Singaporeans are warming up to the concept of empowering these individuals - so would it not be the duty of the court to acknowledge and include public sentiment towards the laws it upholds and change it accordingly?

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1. ethics of food
2. cloning
3. bias
4. political climate's effects on justice
5. death penalty

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Case Study of (possible) Bias in Judicial System

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Case Study of (possible) Bias in Judicial System

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1. Locally
a. Drug offenders in Singapore are generally viewed by society to be "deserving" of the death penalty, yet outer societies may view this judgement too inhumane/unethical, citing life imprisonment as another way of punishment.
b. POFMA in Singapore allows ministers to order websites to take down supposed "malicious misinformation", whether it was spread deliberate or unknowingly, but this has been suspected to become politically biased to clamp down on political advocacy by the opposing parties.
2. USA
a. Acquittance of Trump's impeachment by the US Senate. Trump was charged with obstruction of congress and abuse of power. Despite being a regular creator and spreader of fake news, with allegations of involving the Ukranian government to influence the 2016 elections, the Senate (with a Republican majority) voted a majority of Not Guilty to clear Trump of all charges.
b. George Floyd case and many other cases of police violence against the coloured community in the US. Despite clear evidence of excess use of brute force in carrying out arrest that is likely motivated by racial bias against the coloured community, many such cases were either dismissed in court or closed with relatively light sentences.
3. Saudi Arabia
a. A society that follows strict Islamic rules, the law dictates that each female to be under the guardianship of a male relative. This restricts the movement of females, and women who wishes to escape Saudi Arabia usually has to do so when the whole family is out of the country for a holiday, then take a plane elsewhere to seek asylum.
b. In Saudi Arabia, a man can divorce his wife without any legal justification, but a wife can only divorce her husband if her husband agrees or she can prove judicially that he has harmed her. Even in the case of actual domestic violence, the court usually rules in favour of the male party.
4. Internationally
a. In trials regarding sexual misconduct, the victim is usually advised to dress modestly in dark colours. This is to avoid the victim to be seen as immodest, thus causing them to "ask for" sexual misconduct towards them. This is due to the long-held opinion that women who experience sexual misconduct are the ones at fault (victim-blaming)

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Even though justice is often said to be served, this is not the actual case as there are too many areas for bias to come into action in our current society. It is therefore necessary to continue question the justice of "justice served", in order to ensure a fair and equal society.